Toca Creative Studio

Toca Creative Studio is an artist group based on Tokyo. They are selling postcards, stickers, tote bags, and other items made by a Spanish creator and a Japanese artist. We have conducted an interview with them.

Who are the people in Toca Creative Studio?

TCS includes two creators: Don Milio, a Spanish creator living in Tokyo, and Kimiko Moi, a Japanese artist.

What is the story behind this eclectic mix of East and West?

The two artists met through a common friend. Soon the two became interested in each other’s work and started to seek an opportunity to exhibit their work together.

Who/what inspires the creator and artist?

Don Milio usually searches his inner self to bring out his world into his work. As a result, his works vary from dark and grim illustrations to joyful and cheerful characters. His objective is not to translate reality into art, but let the audience get a glimpse of “someone” or “somewhere” from his inner world and relate to it in some way.

On the other hand, Kimiko Moi creates her artworks being inspired by the Tale of Genji, a classic work of Japanese literature written in the 11th century. She imagines how the characters felt in each scene and realizes it by using various paints and materials including Japanese kimono.

You ran a booth at Design Festa, an international art event held in Tokyo in May 2016, didn’t you? What was the special highlight?

Among other characters, this time we featured Don Milio’s latest character called “Mr. Milio”. He is an orange and black striped creature who travels everywhere across a fanciful and dreamy universe. A lot of visitors to our booth bought the postcards of Mr. Milio saying “Who’s he!? He’s so cute!”, “He seems to fully enjoy his life. I like it!”, and “His joyful expression gives me hope and energy.”

When will your art be available on the web?

Some items have already been launched at Zazzle and we are planning to release new items in a stream. We will tweet our latest information, so please follow our twitter: twitter.com/tocacs32