This year’s Designer Con was wild! It rained all three days, I saw a fight in the Medicom line, and I officially bought art for my living room. AYYYYE! This is about to be a long post!

Last year, I attended Designer Con, not really expecting much, but it was a really good convention. Lots of vinyl toys, art pieces, and well-known artists show up and often sell limited-edition merchandise to those who attend. I figured I’d go again this year just to see what I can get my hands on. A lot of things changed for the convention this year, but overall, it was an amazing event.

Last year, they had the big name booths like POPMart, Medicom, Lucky Emma, and Tokidoki, just to name a few. This year, it seems like they downsized a few of the booths, but the bigger booths, like Medicom and Tokidoki, were still active and on a larger scale than others. POPMart did not have a booth this year, and to be honest, I’m glad they didn’t. Last year, with POPMart headlining DCON, it was such a mess! People were running, and people were bulk buying. Their queue wasn’t even organized, so that people who were standing for hours couldn’t even get to purchase because they ended up closing the line, or things just sold out. I get it. Last year, Labubus were the main attraction, and EVERYONE wanted one. But in the end, it was just a hot mess. Unlike Medicom, which is always, AND I MEAN ALWAYS, organized.

THE MEDICOM BOOTH THIS YEAR WAS INSANE! They had a colab with The Backstreet Boys, with a chance to get a wristband to have AJ and Nick sign their BE@RBRICK. Of course, my sister and I were going to try to get a wristband so we could get AJ and Nick to sign. But within 20 minutes, all the wristbands were given out, and we were unable to attend. On the day of the signing, we still saw them from afar, and that alone is still a treat! The Chris Brown collab happened last year and this year as well, and that was also wild! If you purchased his BE@RBRICK, you were entered into a raffle for a meet and greet with Chris Brown. Unfortunately, we were all so tired from the 2 days that we didn’t go on Sunday where we could see Chris Brown at the booth. On top of that, by the end of the VIP night, his BE@RBRICK was sold out.

BUT THE BEST PART OF GOING TO THE MEDICOM BOOTH WAS….DRUMROLL!!!! I won a free BE@RBRICK!!!! If you ever go to the Medicom booth, you get a chance for a free prize (I think that’s the correct vernacular for what the experience was). They have a box where you pick out a coin, and whatever color coin you get determines your freebie. AND I GOT A LUCKY COIN! If you pull one of the Medicom’s Black coins, you get a free 400% BE@RBRICK! I was shitting myself when they opened the private vault of  BE@RBRICK. I have never seen any of the ones they had in the vault, here in the States! Needless to say, this booth was by far one of my favorites. Also, look how cool my BE@RBRICK looks!

MY SECOND FAVORITE WAS ONCH’S BOOTH! If you know, you know, and if you don’t know, I’m going to tell you. ONCH is one of the most sought-after creatives in the jewelry industry. Working with well-known artists like Rihanna, Nikki Minaj, Paris Hilton, and more. Onch made a name in the industry for thinking outside of the box and embracing everyone’s individual style and creativity. Using food as a main theme, Onch is known for collaborations with Kewpei, Tokidoki, Le Petite Prince, and Teletubies, just to name a few. Onch recently launched “Monchsters” to commemorate a few of his famous designs, such as Nikki Minaj’s Ice Cream necklace, which she wore during the MTV VMAs back in 2011. Seeing his collections up front was amazing! Onch is a gem, and if you ever meet them, you will get the biggest hug and have such an amazing time. We even talked about my nails. Word up to my nail tech, Marissa! Onch gave me a personal tour of his booth, told me all about the collections they displayed, and shopped with me too!!!!!! Onch’s keychains that I purchased were not only cute but also affordable. If you’d like to purchase something from their collection please click here. I felt the whole encounter was a fever dream. I REALLY hope to see them at the next Designer Con.

After buying all my collectibles, I decided to focus more on finding artwork that I actually loved and wanted to take home this year. Don’t get me wrong, last year had GREAT artists, both local and out of state. But I just liked them, and I didn’t fall in love with them enough to bring them home with me. But this year, I luckily stumbled upon one artist I had never heard of and another I follow on Instagram.

If you know me, you know my two favorite Ghibli Movies are Howl’s Moving Castle and Kiki’s Delivery Service. I have been trying to find artwork, whether it’s a movie poster or from an Artist who adapts their own concept, for a VERY long time. THEN! I FOUND BRYCE KHO’S BOOTH. Based out of California, Bryce is an illustrator known for his concept art and his extravagant fan art. When I say I fell for an art piece, this was it. NOT ONLY DID BRYCE’S BOOTH HAVE KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE, THEY ALSO HAD HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE! Do you know how hard it is to find an artist who has both of these Ghibli movies in a collection?!? As soon as I saw both, I knew I had to get them. Bryce’s booth had other sizes for his work that were available, but I got the 24 x 36. They also had a good deal going along with the size purchase; if you get 2, you get 1 free. My sister got an Animal Crossing piece that was a Celeste theme. I believe this was their first time at Designer Con, and hopefully they’ll be back next year. If you want to see more of Bryce Kho’s work, click here.

My last stop was no other than Poohbreezy. Poohbreezy came back this year to sell a few of his pieces, and he also did a live art session while at his booth. I’ve been following him for a while now via social media and found out about him when Demon Slayer was at its peak of viewership. He did a piece with all the Hashiras and also did one of my all-time favorite characters, Shinobu (REST EASY QUEEN). I actually asked him if he was going to be at the con this year, and when he said he was, I told my sister and my boyfriend that we needed to stop by! When we did, I saw that he had Akaza for sale, and I just had to get it. I mean…. It’s Akaza; he deserved better. I also got 2 small-sized art pieces, one of the Hashiras and one of Attack on Titan. Poohbreezy is so down to earth; we talked to him like he was just one of our friends that we were meeting up with just to kiki about life, art, and everything else in between. He does auction off his work, so if you like Anime and have a love for fan art, I highly recommend checking him out here and here ! Also if you’d like to watch any of his art videos you can watch on his Youtube channel and he also has a Twitch channel where he draws LIVE!

This year’s Designer Con was absolutely amazing, just like last year’s. I honestly cannot wait for next year’s show. UNTIL MY NEXT POST! UNTIL MY NEXT POST!

Don’t forget that happiness is in the little things you do to make this world a better place. Be kind to yourself and be kind to others… and as always, look out for yourself and one another.

–C