swama07的部落格

I guess the best way to start this is a little background info. I was born in Jersey City, New Jersey 1974. Jersey City is approximately 15 minutes from Manhattan by the Path train but it felt worlds apart. I basically grew up skating and later doing graffiti and this led me to meet many creative people at a young age. It also opened a lot of doors when it came to traveling outside my home city because most of the time in both these subcultures, there was a real open arms community type of atmosphere.

When I got out of school I moved to the Lower East Side of Manhattan for four years until I decided to move to Brooklyn where I live and work now. My first visit to Japan was in 1997. My friend Atsushi from college had an older brother who offered to bring me out there in exchange for a painting. I had no idea then that Tokyo would be a place that I would become so interested in.
It is difficult to pinpoint exactly what I do because my interest goes in many directions and I try not to get tied down to any one thing. Some people know me for the graffiti I have done

or the guy that who painted over ads on billboards

and bus shelters,

others might know me for my toy designs with Medicom Toy or Bounty Hunter. Then there is the graphic work I designed for companies such as Supreme, A Bathing Ape, Real Mad Hectic, Under Cover, Stussy, Undefeated, to name a few.
My most recent project is Original Fake.

It’s a collaborative store with Medicom Toy in Aoyama. This is a dream project come true because I got to design the store with Masamichi Katayama and his company Wonderwall and I get to design every item that is sold there. We opened in May and it has been a real learning experience so far. I am looking forward to projects we have coming up and for the first time I will be sharing some of these projects with you as they develop. I have to admit the idea of having a blog was making me kinda nervous but then I thought how bad can it be… I already talk to myself all day long while I’m in the studio working.

Thanks to Honeyee for having me be part of their community.
KAWS..