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LEGO’s Fire, Sofubi & Art Toys: What Stays?
LEGO’s Fire, Sofubi & Art Toys ask: what changes, what remains, and who carries its identity forward as artists test new forms? ArT Toy Gama Newsletter #258
ART TOY NEWSLETTER
Sergio Pampliega Campo & Cristina A. del Chicca
LEGO left wooden toys behind and built its future around plastic bricks. Meanwhile, artists across the ArT Toy Movement are experimenting with vinyl, resin, 3D printing and sofubi. What changes when the material changes and what stays?
A wooden-toy factory catches fire.
Wooden toys disappear from the catalogue.
And a plastic brick becomes the foundation of a whole new world.
LEGO's story makes us wonder about something that matters to artists too:
When a character changes material, what should it take along?
1. The Fire Didn't Invent the Brick
LEGO began making wooden toys in 1932.
But by the time a fire damaged its wooden-toy factory in February 1960, the company was already heading in another direction.
The familiar LEGO brick, with its interlocking system, had been patented in 1958.
After the fire, LEGO stopped producing wooden toys and focused on plastic bricks.
The fire was a turning point, certainly.
But it didn't create the idea that would shape LEGO's future.
That was already there.
And there's an interesting difference between the two.
A crisis can make you change direction. It can't tell you which idea is worth keeping.
For LEGO, that idea was a system of pieces that could connect, come apart and become almost anything someone imagined.
2. An ArT Toy Can Change Its Skin
The ArT Toy Movement has never been tied to one material.
Artists work with vinyl, resin, wood, found objects and plenty of other things.
Some sculpt by hand. Others use digital modelling or 3D printing to develop or produce their pieces.
And each material brings something different.
A different feel. A different production process. Sometimes a completely different relationship with the finished object.
Then there's sofubi.
The word comes from the Japanese term for soft vinyl. Sofubi figures are generally made from soft PVC, using techniques rooted in Japan's long tradition of soft-vinyl toy production.
It's attracting more attention, and artists who previously worked with resin or other types of vinyl are exploring what sofubi can offer.
Sometimes through their own projects. Sometimes through collaborations.
But there's a small trap here.
A material can become fashionable long before an artist has figured out what they actually want to do with it.
A new material gives you possibilities. It doesn't give you an idea.
That part is still up to the artist.
3. Who Gives the New Form Its Meaning?
A character might begin as a sketch.
But getting it from a drawing to someone's shelf can involve quite a few people.
The artist decides what makes the character recognisable, even when its form changes.
The producer or brand helps turn that idea into something physical, working through the sculpt, mould, materials and edition.
A gallery or shop gives people somewhere to discover the work and learn about its creator.
A ToyCon brings artists, brands and collectors together.
And blogs and specialist publications help preserve the stories and decisions behind a release.
Then there's the collector, who gives the finished piece a place in their own life. Perhaps they display it alongside other works, share its story or keep a record of where it came from.
None of these roles is quite the same.
And none should be confused with the artist's original contribution.
But together, they can help an idea travel much further than the studio where it began.
The material shapes the object. The people involved shape its journey.
4. Sofubi Travels. Identity Travels With It.
Sofubi has deep roots in Japan.
But the material and its production traditions have travelled, and artists elsewhere are finding their own ways to work with them.
Soft-vinyl production can now take place in different countries, including China.
In Mexico, artists are creating locally produced sofubi, sometimes called Mexafubi.
And in Colombia, Iván Darío Espinel's Sofumbia brings Japanese soft-vinyl traditions into conversation with Colombian identity and visual culture.
Which makes us think about something more interesting than simply asking where a figure was manufactured.
What happens when a technique travels halfway around the world
and meets a completely different culture?
It doesn't have to lose its history.
And it doesn't have to remain exactly as it was.
An artist can respect where a technique comes from while bringing their own references, experiences and imagination into it.
Perhaps that's one way Rebellion can work.
Not rejecting a tradition just for the sake of it, but refusing to let that tradition decide everything you create.
5. What Should the Next Version Remember?
An ArT Toy can give a character a physical presence.
A painting might show another side of its world.
A Fine Art Print can carry its colours, symbols or imagery somewhere new.
They don't have to look identical.
And they don't all have to tell exactly the same story.
Sometimes the differences are what make an artist's work more interesting.
This brings us back to four ideas we often explore at Art Toy Gama.
Identity is what makes the work recognisable, even when the material changes.
Memory keeps track of earlier versions, creative decisions and the people involved.
Legacy grows when ideas and techniques survive long enough to be explored, shared and reinterpreted.
And Rebellion can mean changing materials, trying something unfamiliar or simply saying no to the latest trend.
Because not every artist needs to make sofubi.
Not every character needs another edition.
And certainly not every ArT Toy needs an entire universe built around it.
Sometimes a new material opens up something genuinely exciting.
Other times, the original version already says everything the artist wants it to say.
So perhaps the question isn't whether a character can be made in another material.
It's whether there's a good reason to do it.
If an ArT Toy you love changed material tomorrow, what would you hope stayed the same?
Read more stories about the artists, materials and people shaping
the ArT Toy Movement on the Art Toy Gama Blog.
And visit the Art Toy Gama Shop to discover ArT Toys, Paintings and Fine Art Prints from different creative worlds.
Because materials change.
But the choices, people and ideas behind a work can give it a story that travels much further.
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