Miss Ivy: Jozi's Own - Toyboy Designs

TOYBOY DESIGNS...

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... Another AWESOME local brand straight outta Jozi,

(or Johannesburg, South Africa for my

international readers...)

some of you might already find this name familiar,
others might have seen it been mentioned in my last post about "Scrabbyl", and others
might already be pretty familiar with this label already.

So what is Toyboy all about? Well as the name suggests (but only slightly) this is a brand that specializes in Lego based accessories and decor. Hendrik (founded and maker of Toyboy) could kind of be considered the brother of Margaux Lange... hehe!

This is Hendrik!

And this is just a little bit of a peek into Hendrik and Reynier's mind tank.... :D

Lucky for me I got a small interview with the Toyboy brain itself... If you're a young entrepreneur in South Africa at the moment, this might be of some use to you..... if not? Just enjoy getting to know a little more about this beautiful brand:

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1. Hello there ;) As my very first question, you're probably going to see this one coming... Where do you draw your inspiration from for your designs?

I get my inspiration from my love for designer, Jean Charles De Catelbajac and also from cartoons and animations. I am still a kid at heart and i love playing with toys and collecting them! I also love colour as i find the world to be rather grey sometimes and it needs more POW now and then!

2. Toyboy must have taken a while for you to get things up and running. How long have you been doing this for, and is it the only thing you do? Do you have any other hobbies or things you're involved in?

Toyboy Designs is still a baby and has been established for nearly a year come July. But due to the nature of the items it grew really fast in the eye of the media. Toyboy Designs is and all round design based company. Managing it takes all of my attention at the moment as i am handling the fashion design, decor, styling, events and photography side and my business partner, Reynier Krause is handling the Furniture and Interior design side.

The furniture and clothing range is currently in prototype phase but will be released to the media soon.

Toyboy is also having an event at the woods in JHB Newtown on the 29th of June named Toybox.

3. What was the biggest challenge for you involving starting up a local fashion brand?

Getting the name out there and finding stockists. Ive managed to get Toyboy Designs

published in a few magazines but it wasn't an easy task. We are still

searching for more stockists as we are only stocking JHB

and Pretoria at the moment.

4. I see on your site it says "(Contact) to order your custom design"... What's been the most interesting or weirdest thing anyone's wanted to order from you?

I had an order to design a Disney Goofey face necklace once and also a bulk order of Star Trek brooches for a trekkies party.

5. Where do you aim to move your brand in the future? Where do you see everything going?

Id like to have a Toyboy store, locally and overseas that range from clothing, accessories, art, decor and just amazingness and also to make the name toyboy designs knows as a name for styling, photography, creative direction and of course amazing events nationally.

6. Social media-ness is seemingly becoming uber important, especially for small local brands. Let us know ALL your deets and where people can find you online?

My facebook page is kept very active with all details and invites to Toyboy hosted parties:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Toyboy-Designs/224383597603280

on twitter: toyboy_designs

and then online at www.toyboydesigns.com

and at 072 369 0190!

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