the kids are alright

I’d never heard of the Kidrobot phenomenon until I was invited by Swatch to a party to celebrate a new collaboration. The famous watchmakers, however, I knew very well (naturally). Back in the day, I was one of the first kids to have a Swatch. My grandmother was prescient when it came to matters of style, and she bought me one of the first editions during one of her grand European tours. Needless to say, the bees knees and the ants pants had nothing on me.

This very topic was how I bonded with Kidrobot artist MAD (who has a degree in toy design – how delish is that?). We chatted about how we both were ahead of our time as he went about painting a huge Swatch wall piece and one of the Kidrobot leporine dummies while I surreptitiously googled the company on my iPhone. Turns out, this art + toy + design megalith is right up my inner-big-kid’s street. I love the bold colours, the street artiness of the designs and the, well, philosophy of fun that seems to permeate the very soul of the company.

It’s no wonder that Swatch has joined forces with Kidrobot and released nine watches each designed by a Kidrobot artist. All are great – though Mad’s pink number is my favourite (above) – and are available in store and online.

kidrobot artist mad at work:

my new kidrobot collection (thanks for getting me started):