| Tokidoki | |
| Type: | Brand |
| Genre: | Cute, bright, Japanese |
| Founder: | Simone Legno, Ivan Arnold, Pooneh Mohajer |
| Key People: | Ivan Arnold, CEO Simone Legno, CCO Pooneh Mohajer, COO |
tokidoki ("sometimes" in Japanese) is a Japanese-inspired lifestyle brand created in 2006 by Italian artist Simone Legno and his business partners Pooneh Mohajer and Ivan Arnold. While based on the kitschy world of Japanese pop culture cartoons, and superficially resembling Japanese anime and manga, it has been described as complex and reciprocal set of cultural and economic influences between Japan, Italy and the USA, explaining its broad outreach and emotional appeal to consumers in Italy and other countries who grew up with Japanese anime and manga.[1] This can be seen in the logo, a heart atop crossbones, which was described by Simone as “There is dark and light, there is the edgy, there is the cute.” [2]
In April 2005, the co-founder of cosmetics company Hard Candy, Pooneh Mohajer, and her husband Ivan Arnold, saw Simone Legno's personal portfolio website, which had some popularity, being listed as one of The Independents top ten "websites of the week".[3] They subsequently arranged to meet him, and Simone joined them in Los Angeles. Simone has become a recent fixture at San Diego Comic-Con and makes appearances at various locations worldwide for signings and promotions.
Simone has produced individual works as well as collaborations with other artists, such as the Karl Lagerfeld, the German fashion designer for a range of collectible dolls and accessories.
The brand has been used in numerous products including apparel, footwear, and accessories based on the art, cartoon characters and the logo designed by Simone Legno. tokidoki also has multiple business projects and collaborations with global brands such as Hello Kitty, Bearbrick, Barbie, Marvel, Nissan and Sephora. Among Simon's proudest achievements is creating merchandise for Roma, his childhood-favourite Italian Serie A football team.
Key characters include: Cactus Friends, Donutella and Her Sweet Friends, Unicorno, Moofia, Mermicorno, Til Death, and Punkstar.[4]