Mousketeers For A Modern Age: MadMaus Tees, Prints and Pillows by Christopher Lee Sauvé.

 I am loving this new collection of t-shirts, art prints and pillows by Christopher Lee Sauvé. The black and white graphic illustrations depict fashion, music, celebrities and other pop culture icons donning Disney "Mouse Ears."

Disney Hips Up Their Plushies & Classic Characters Become Cool.

UPDATE 2013: Apparently these were too hip for Disney customers. I'm sad to say the line has been discontinued.

Original post: Disney has been really good about expanding their brand to include things that would appeal to hipsters of all ages. For the last decade or more everything from their films to their toys, their couture jewelry and collectibles have included modern artsy versions in addition to the classic ones.

The latest are their new soft plush toys that were inspired by the urban vinyl toy culture. The modern looking 12" tall toys called Pook-A-Looz (okay, so the name sucks) were designed to capture the personalities of iconic Disney characters in an edgy, offbeat way.



Sassy and fun, the new line of plush features more than 30 wide-ranging characters from Buzz Lightyear and Cheshire Cat to Muppets and Jack Skellington. Shown below are a few of them for you (keep in mind, there are more than just those shown below.. such as Eeyore, Dumbo and other beloved childhood favorites).

Mickey and Minnie:

Woody and Buzz Lightyear:

Snow White, Dopey and Grump:

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell:

Winnie The Pooh, Tigger and Piglet:
:
Alice, Cheshire Cat, The Mad Hatter & the Queen Of Hearts:

Goofy, Donald and Pluto:


“We focused on capturing one key element, gesture or trait of each character during the design process. We wanted the look to be very unique, quirky and cool,” said Jose Zamora, lead designer for the DCP products. “When you think of the Queen of Hearts, you think of her mouth, so we brought that out in the design. With the Cheshire Cat, you think of the teeth. So we focused on that famous grin.”

To help promote the new plushies, there will be a series of “Pook-a-Sodes”, videos on the Disney Living YouTube channel. The first one, with Pook-A-Looz Mickey as a ‘Gentleman Caller’ is shown below:

The Disney Living Facebook fan page and @disneyliving Twitter feed will also offer additional content and forums for fans to win prizes, share content and connect. The 12" Pook-A-Looz cost between $7.99 and $12.99 and can be purchased at Disney Parks, The Disney Store and Toys R Us.

Disney Signature & Cappellini Unveil 5 Limited Edition Chairs

above: Modern Mickey Mouse fabric on Cappellini's Rive Droite chair

Walt Disney Signature and Italian furniture brand Cappellini have collaborated to produce five limited edition chairs that were unveiled this month at the Milan Furniture Fair.

The chairs:

ECO FISH Walt Disney Signature limited edition from Cappellini - design: Satyendra Pakhalè 2010



An organic shape inspired by nature, the Fish Chair is the ideal way to showcase the latest advancement in fabrication - an opaque, multi-coloured plastic created from recycled materials, moulded using a rotational technique. The material is recycled to underline Cappellini's renewed focus on the theme of conserving raw materials for the future generations. The internal part of the seat is coloured white. Series of 99 numbered pieces. Armchair - cm. 55 x 87 x 40/72 h.

MICKEY'S RIBBON STOOL Walt Disney Signature limited edition from Cappellini - design: Nendo 2010

With its circular shape, open design and flowing lines, the Ribbon Stool lends itself perfectly to the famous silhouette that peeks over its seat. Merging flawlessly together, our two visions create a single, iconic representation of the seamless collaboration between Cappellini and Walt Disney Signature. This is a series of high and low stools with backrest, produced from laser cut and folded sheet metal. The low stool has a shiny red varnish, the high stool a shiny yellow varnish, whilst the feet are in transparent plastic. Series of 399 numbered pieces for the low stool. Series of 199 numbered pieces for the high stool. Low stool - cm. Ø 42 x 45/66 h. High stool - cm. Ø 42 x 78/99 h.

Y'S MICKEY Walt Disney Signature limited edition from Cappellini - design: Christophe Pillet 2010




With its rounded contours and unique design, the Y's De Lux Chair is the perfect canvas on which to embroider one of our signature icons: a subtle geometric pattern using Mickey's silhouette. Swivel armchair with integral polyurethane frame. Fixed cover in white leather with white yarn embroidery that reproduces the unmistakeable silhouette of the most famous cartoon character in the world. Base in die cast aluminium with matt white varnish, feet in black plastic. Series of 33 numbered pieces. Armchair - cm. 54.5 x 73 x 43/80 h.

MULTICOLOUR RIVE DROITE Walt Disney Signature limited edition from Cappellini - design: Patrick Norguet 2010


Making the connection between fashion and design, the Rive Droite chair seamlessly fuses a pure, modern shape, with the graphic pattern of Mickey's overlapping silhouette. The bold, daring palette illustrates both Walt Disney Signature and Cappellini's fearless approach to colour. Swivel armchair with wooden and moulded polyurethane frame. Fixed cover in fabric that presents a highly familiar silhouette in a daring pallette. Base in brushed stainless steel. Series of 99 numbered pieces. Armchair - cm. 93.5 x 73.5 x 38.5/71 h.

the press release:
Walt Disney Signature, Disney's first upscale, inspired, non-character, adult lifestyle brand and Cappellini, one of the most renowned design innovators worldwide, today unveiled five limited edition chairs at the Milan Furniture Fair in Italy. The combination of Cappellini's reputation for innovation and the magic and inspiration of Disney has produced a series of everyday products that resemble works of art.


above: The Disney and Cappellini Booth at The 2010 Milan Furniture fair

This introduction follows the success of Walt Disney Signature's dining installation in collaboration with Cappellini for last month's Dining By Design DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS) event in New York City.


above: the Dining display at Diffa

A 3-dimensional sculpting of Mickey Mouse sitting on a giant chair, previously used for the DIFFA event display, was recreated at Fuori Salone, Milano Design Village to mark today's launch. The Mickey sculpture is made of polyurethane, measures more than three metres tall and weighs 40 kilos.



"Walt Disney and Cappellini both have a shared approach to design, creativity and collaboration that turns everyday products into functional works of art," commented Pamela Lifford, executive vice president, Home and Fashion, Disney Consumer Products. "Collaborating with a leading Italian design brand specialising in contemporary furnishings like Cappellini is another exciting step in continuing Walt Disney Signature's philosophy on design and innovation."

"This collaboration is the premise for a joint Cappellini and Walt Disney Signature stylistic commitment that promises to become a new, interesting and exciting chapter in the history of contemporary design, combining Cappellini's strong inclination for innovation with the magical creativity of Disney," added Giulio Cappellini, Art Director for Cappellini.

The Ribbon stool and the Fish Chair, Y's de Luxe and Rive Droite armchairs are embellished with patterns, each one with a different image and underlying theme. The Ribbon's new profile blends Cappellini design with the outline of Disney's most famous character, Mickey Mouse; Y's de Luxe and Rive Droite reflect and multiply the same image in striking processed fabrics; the Fish Chair's shape is inspired by Disney's It's A Small World and produced in recycled material.

Walt Disney Signature products from Cappellini are available at independent and specialty retailers across the globe. Your local Cappellini retailer will be able to take orders now.

Mod Mickeys: The Modernization of Disney's Mickey Mouse

The first and early images of Mickey Mouse:


above left: the very first Mickey Mouse in 1928's SteamBoat Willie and above right, The Mickey Mouse with which most of us grew up.

"For at least a half-century Mickey Mouse, ears and all, has served as one of the most potent icons in contemporary visual culture. The poster boy for everything from cinematic innovation to American cultural 'imperialism,' the animated rodent is freighted with a veritable encyclopedia of inference. Not surprisingly, artists the world over -- and especially Mickey's countrymen and -women -- have fixated on the simply, distinctively drawn figure. But however much that (deceptively) ingenuous face and unique silhouette turn up in Pop paintings, social-commentary cartoons, and even abstract sculpture, writers and historians have let Mickey's ubiquity pass without substantial comment. Until now. Defying the perils of post-modernist close reading, pop-culture fetishism, and the fabled wrath of Disney Corp., Holly Crawford proffers an exhaustive documentation, classification, and analysis of Mickey's many appearances in the visual art of our time. Her study fills a gap in the critical history of recent art, not to mention in Mouseology." —Peter Frank, Critic and Curator


above: Andy Warhol's Mickey Mouse was one of the first modern interpretation of Mickey that those of us born before 1980 experienced


above: Gottfried Helnwein's portraits of Marilyn Manson as Mickey

Above: Gottfried Helnwein : Midnight Mickey, 2001, 200 cm x 300 cm
oil and acrylic on canvas

The above painting is one of the modern interpretations of Disney's Mickey Mouse in Holly Crawford's book, Attached to The Mouse.


ATTACHED TO THE MOUSE, DISNEY AND CONTEMPORARY ART
Those who have used the same or multiple forms of the image many times over many years include Lichtenstein, Helnwein, Oldenburg, Pensato, Ospina, and Chagoya. The facade of Disney and America in the guise of the Mouse is one of the things that Helnwein and others present to us. Claes Oldenburg took the facade to its literal extreme when he proposed a flat Mouse's image for a facade to Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, and produced a flat Mouse sculpture. Helnwein, Oldenburg and others are using the Mouse to make social and cultural comments about our society, in the broadest sense, but with humor. Paperback: 194 pages. University Press of America (July 28, 2006) Buy the book here.



This past summer, Disney & Wa-Qu, A Japanese Design Firm teamed up for an exhibit that incorporated Mickey into interior lifestyle elements such as wallpaper, chopsticks, lacquer dishes and more.



above: Wall coverings incorporating the famous mickey outline for Wa-Qu's Disney exhibit. The exhibit has ended but you can see some of it online here.
More Exhibit info here

Some other unusual and collectible modern interpretations of Mickey are shown below. With links to purchase.

Artist David Flores' Mickey:

above: David Flores Mickey Mouse, Vinyl Collectable Doll (VCD) by Medicom.
Stands 14 CM's tall. Due for release late December. Japan Import. pre-order/buy it here

Three new "modern" Mickeys are available, manufactured by Tomy for Disney of Japan. Released a few months ago; The Punk, Pass Da M.I.C., and Take Off sell for approximately $45 USD each:



Buy the Punk Mickey Here.
Buy Take off Mickey here.
Buy Pass DA MIC Mickey here.



The iRiver MPlayer is also known as the Mickey Mouse player. The gadget is now available for pre-order in Japan and is scheduled to ship on the November first. The MPlayer does not have display screen. It connects via USB and comes in 1GB capacity. The iRiver MPlayer will be available in five different colors for $87. Buy it here.

Runaway Brain Mickey:

Above: This version of Mickey Mouse was featured in the animated short, Runaway Brain, is a super hot collectible vinyl figure for any Mickey Mouse fan. Produced by Medicom.4 inches tall
Buy it here

Clash Mickey - a tribute to The Clash London Calling album Cover(also called Guitar Mickey):


Designed by ROEN, and produced by Medicom Toy, this is the new VCD (Vinyl Collectible Dolls) series Clash Mickey, released exclusively in Japan. Clash Mickey plays as a cool tribute to the Clash, based on their famous 'London Calling' album cover. Standing 6 inches tall, Medicom Toy's Clash Mickey also comes packed in a neat collectors window box.
Buy it here.

BIRD IS THE WORD - White Munky King exclusive by Frank Kozik. White. Vinyl. 16 inches tall. Only 50 produced. The infamous founder of Communist China sporting the symbol of America's cultural imperialism...Mickey Mouse ears?

Frank Kozik's controversial reinterpretation of Chairman Mao stands 16 inches tall in white, reminiscent of the plaster of paris busts of yesteryear but this is pure rotocast vinyl. Comes packaged in a beautiful red box with gold foil printing Buy it here.


Frank Kozik's Mao Mickey Bust also comes in limited edition colors as well as flocked.
Buy them here.

Mickey has also made some appearances in haute couture lately. Here are a few examples:

Manish Arora


Jean Charles de Castelbajac (JCDC):

see more fun JCDC collections here.

And nowadays Disney has their own couture, where you can find many wild Mickey Mouse items, including their own artsy Mickey Mouse toys like those by vinylmation shown below:



There are literally hundred of contemporary artists who have 'updated' Mickey in their own visions, too many to list. But browse or search Behance, Coroflot, Deviant Art or ebay for "Mickey Mouse" and you'll see many more.

Of course, traditional Mickey always has his appeal as well.
For traditional Mickey Mouse items, click here.