The “art toy” phenomenon (also referred to as designer toys, vinyl toys, urban vinyl, etc) first started in Asia in the 90’s. Designer toys in general are small batch production vinyl toys done in collaboration with artists and designers, with a range of different themes which usually combine the highbrow and the lowbrow. Creating these figurines which have layered iconography that dip into different types of subgenres and underground trends. By crossing these boundaries, the toys bring about a lot of questions surrounding accessibility in art, if these toys are artisticly designed objects, and how the stores they are sold at compare to gallery spaces.
