Tony Wong from Wrongwroks
By michael on Sep 3, 2008 in Art, Fashion, Featured
To describe something as “big in Japan” has become a cheap T-shirt cliché. Regardless, it’s one of the most apt descriptions one can use when talking about Wrongwroks (wrong rocks). Vancouverite Tony Wong’s line Wrongwroks is available in two stores in Canada. It’s available in 80 in Japan.
Tony got into art and fashion in an unlikely way, his English sucked. Unable to get into the University of British Columbia, he enrolled in the communication design program at Emily Carr. When he wasn’t studying, he was sneaking into the darkrooms and screenprint labs to hone his talents. After graduating he did a brief stint as a commercial designer in Hong Kong then returned to Vancouver. Fashion wasn’t the goal from the onset and he began making limited edition art prints, or “fucking exclusive” art prints as they’re called on the Wrongwroks website.
“I found out that paper was expensive so I printed on a whole bunch of Fed Ex boxes and anything I could flatten out. It started out as an art thing but then I got into fashion because people don’t buy the boxes. So I printed the same graphics on t-shirts.”
Wrongwroks streetwear is playful urban art brandalism, offering clever and cheeky apes of popular fashion lines like Supreme and Marc Jacobs or poppy cartoon characters like SpongeBob and Doraemon.
“When people first see my stuff they think it’s kind of fake and I’m ripping off someone. Like the Supreme logo or Doraemon. Japanese are really strict about counterfeits and it doesn’t exist in that culture. Later, when they pick up what it is though, boom, everyone wants it.” Demand overseas is so high that some shirts have been printing everyday in factories since last year. Wrongwroks is carried in stores all over Asia and is especially popular in the notoriously fickle Harajuku fashion district in Tokyo.
Much like the quintessential “big in Japan” artist/fashion designer, Kaws, Tony provides art and T-shirt junkies with a steady supply of familiar and delicious eye candy that one can’t help but buy. A jovial and likable Tony openly admits this much. Like Kaws, he’s trying “to do something in a style where people go, ‘Oh, I want it.’ But people don’t know why they want it. That’s the trick.”
While Tony is busy appropriating imagery for his designs, the companies he’s taking them from are paying close attention. Not just for legal reasons, though there have been a few, but for new ideas.
“They’ll use the same graphic and collaborate with a real company and make a whole bunch of clothes. With Doraemon they did the same thing as me except with no Adidas sneakers. I do that clothing, they do that clothing. I do a keychain, they make a keychain. The only difference is no Wrongwroks logo and no kicks. People think my stuff is everywhere, but no, that’s not mine.”
Tony doesn’t have any immediate plans to conquer North America with his line. All of Asia and parts of Europe are fine for now. “North America is cool but it’s not the biggest. It doesn’t matter where I sell. The more people who wear my stuff, the more happy I am.”
www.wrongwroks.com
All images courtesy of Wrongwroks.