Our friends, Ben Jones (Paper Rad) and the Problem Solverz team (John Pham, Jon Vermilyea, and Martin Cendreda) will be opening an exhibition November 19th at Giant Robot 2, West Los Angeles. You may have seen our studio visit at Cartoon Network HQ with these guys. We got an exclusive tour of their studio, a behind the scenes and glimpse into putting this innovative show on the air. This is one of the most visually arresting cartoons on Cartoon Network right now. The stories and characters are awesome and it’s the team of indie comicbook artists behind this program that is most significant to me. The show is different, the art is current… when you watch it, you’ll understand what I’m talking about.

Giant Robot has teamed up with the crew for an exhibition titled, “Art of Problem Solving”. If you’ve seen the show, you understand why it’s worthy of an exhibition. It’s art on national television. And if you know the history of Ben Jones and Paper rad, you see his influence all over this… it’s Ben Jones, 100%.

Below are some images of a super limited zine that our friend, John Vermilyea (lead artist of the Problem Solverz) gave me. These are more like sketches and ideas in this zine, I’m sure you’ll be seeing concept art at the show as well, but, probably tons of finished, vibrant, tripped out pieces. Info on the show below.

Here is Jon Vermilyea… thanks for the zine Jon!

and, the show info…

Love this collaboration. Geoff’s drawings are on Heath’s signature tabletop. Many of the pieces are one of a kind paintings on ceramic, some of the silhouettes totally new to Heath’s 60 year existence. Here are some of my favorite pieces from the show, I couldn’t stop taking pictures, everything was so amazing. I’m not the only one to think so, judging by all of the red dots on everything.

The exhibition is at the Heath LA store until the end of the year. You can read an exclusive interview with Geoff McFetridge from our friends, Bobby Solomon and Kyle Fitzpatrick, of LAImYours.com. For the Angelenos, Geoff McFetridge along with potter/director of Heath LA, Adam Silverman, will be doing a studio talk on December 3rd. Mark your calendar.

Even more images from the show at our Flickr.

This past July, we embarked on our first ever open call for a wallet design with our friend Jeff Hamada of Booooooom. It was an amazing project that introduced us to some awesomely talented people.

Jeff Hamada, Angie and I narrowed down the hundreds of entries down to five finalists, Jessica Fortner, Jake Pauls, Heiko Xlylophone, Alice Maca, and Andrew Lawandus. Then, we left the decision up to you. With over 1400 votes cast in a just a couple of days, designer Andrew Lawandus received the most votes and won! That winning design now a part of the Poketo archives and available in super limited edition on the Poketo site.

We caught up with Andrew to get to know him better and to see what’s been brewing in his part of the world.

Hi, Andrew. In three words, how would you describe your aesthetic?
Fresh. Thoughtful. Interesting

In our collaboration with Booooooom, we asked everyone to submit around the theme of “Before Life.” Could you tell us more about your design and where it originates?
When I hear the words “before life”, I automatically begin thinking of amoebas and microorganisms. The design actually originated from a drawing in my sketchbook of a one-eyed amoeba, made up of lines and triangles.

What are some of your favorite blogs that you visit daily?
A few of my favorite blogs are: Good, for my news fix; Book Cover Archive, for my book fix; Pirates Press, for my vinyl fix; and Devour, for my viral video fix.

Music seems to be a big influence on your work. What’s currently on your playlist?
Beach Fossils
The Drums
Surfer Blood
The Babies
Yuck
The Vaccines

Aside from the awesome wallet on the site, where else can people catch your work? What are you working on?
Currently, I’m working on two projects; the first is an info-graphic icon poster displaying the evolution of cell phones over the past 24 years. The second is complete re-design of the newest Death Cab For Cutie album “Codes and Keys”, on vinyl.

Andrew Lawandus’ winning wallet design.

What are you looking forward to in the next few months?
I’m really looking forward to the next few months when I’ll be getting to take a break from classes at Savannah College of Art and Design, and have time to work on writing songs with my bandmates.

Check out Andrew’s wallet at poketo.com.
Find more of Andrew on doworkdesign.com.
Check out booooooom at booooooom.com

No doubt you’ve been charmed by Hanako Clulow’s work on Poketo. Her playful renditions of animals transport us to a happy world of our own imagining. First, our mousepads, now in two of our latest fall wallet collection.

Hanako left Japan in 1997 for Ireland where she studied Visual Arts and English. Then headed to England to explore her passion for Child Psychology, eventually finishing her degree from the University of London. Despite (or perhaps because of her studies), she found a renewed love for art and has since enchanted us with her exploration of nature, the animal kingdom, psychology, fantasy and her native culture.

We were curious to see how inspiration sprang from the mind of Hanako so we asked her to share a slice of her life with us. Hanako sent us a few snapshots of her daily life and with it we place ourselves in her proverbial shoes.

This is me and as you can see I’m heavily pregnant (9 months). My tummy is getting bigger and bigger every day. Can’t wait to see my daughter soon!

Check out Hanako’s wallet and mousepad.
Find more of Hanako at ilikesleeping.com.