Interview with the creator of the DIY Mate

Tell us a little about yourself
My name is Timo aka „das mo“. I am 27 years old and live in Munich, Germany. Drawing characters and cartoons shaped my life and personality for more than 20 years now. As a teenager I started working with spraycans exploring walls and large format canvas, worked on 3D animations and got into photography a bit. But there is one limit you can only exceed by realising your ideas in a sculpture / toy – give people the chance explore your ideas using their hands! This is what makes designer toys so special for me and makes the difference compared to 2D art.

How and when did you get into designer toys?
My first contact with designer toys took place in Cardiff, UK in 2001. I dropped in a little store and was confronted with a blind box of Pete Fowlers Monsterism Series 1. I bought one and realized on my birthday that my girl friend got me another one… From this day on I am totally in love with designer toys.

Can you tell us a little about your collection
Well - compared to others my collection is actually not that big, but there are some standing around here and there in my apartment between all my Legos!

What are your favorite toys and/or artists?
There is a new handmade toy called Mo´s Mate – I like it a lot! ;P
I actually do not want to put one toy / artist above others here. When I run over the pages of books such as Dot Dot Dash, it becomes obvious how many great artists have found their way into the designer toy thing. Both toy designers and customizers. What I like most is that more and more people seem to discover the handcraft of toy making – as I did this summer. I hope that this will bring some more personality and character into the array of designer toys in the future…

When did you get the idea to make your own toy?
Beginning of June I guess. Shame on me! Somehow I did not get into this before. I was captivated when realising that there are material available for making and casting toys at home. This might be strange for people from UK and US, where molding and casting materials seem to be more present in regular art and handcraft stores than in Germany.

Can you tell us a little about the design process?
The hour of birth of my mates was a sketch I did in the Underground in the early morning. It looks quite different compared to what it finally became, but definately was the starting point. Back home I gave it a try with different kind of clays. It was not going to well, so I switched tools and materials and poured a solid block of plaster. This is what I carved the body part out of. This process actually took weeks consuming plenty of primer and sanding paper.

How did you work out how to produce your design?
I was a lot of trial and error – definately! When you start this there is a major lack of knowledge and skills. Some pain was taken from me in advance by great support of people in online forums (mainly KR forum) – thank you guys!!! The rest was a long way of spending money on materials and trying them in all combinations. Although this was tough times, it was giving me the substantial experience needed for being able to bring my mates alive!

What are your plans for the future concerning toys?
I am still casting mates and started to work on some customs. I believe in the great potential of the mates design and hope that lots of toy fans will join me soon. When breaking even with my current project, I will definately publish more. There are some nice concepts I have done. Let´s see….

What other interests do you have (besides designer toys)?
Good food and mountains! I like cooking and eating high quality food a lot. Apart from that I try to spend as much time as possible in nature. I use to spend all my vacation in hiking (particularly in Scandinavia)!

Where can people learn more about or buy your toys?
Check out my blog das-mo.blogspot.com or contact me via mail at das-mo dot net! I am looking forward to any kind of cooperation with other toy makers and designers! Please keep on going….