They're All Dolled Up

By Isabel C. Gonzalez

Searching for an excuse to play with toys without looking like a case of arrested development? Meet the urban toys. Like regular toys, they come in all materials, sizes, shapes and prices, but they're created by fashion designers, graffiti artists and underground illustrator--graphic artists like Michael Lau and Pete Fowler, and produced in limited quantities. "They are as much art as they are toys," says Paul Budnitz, owner of Kidrobot, an urban-toy boutique with outlets in San Francisco and New York City. Budnitz, whose two brick-and-mortar stores opened within a year of each other in response to his highly successful website, kidrobot.com will open two more stores later this year. Urban-toy prices range from affordable to Are-you-kidding-me? Kidrobot's prices start at $4, for things like mini-figures and capsule toys. From May 17 to June 17, the Visionaire Gallery in New York City's SoHo district is selling a collection of customized 20-in.-tall vinyl action figures priced from $1,000 to $25,000.

Urban toys can be hard to track down. "You won't find them in traditional venues," says Budnitz. "They are too unique to be carried at mass-market outlets." But his audience isn't just pop-culture art collectors. Moms, dads, kids and stars including Robin Williams, Mike Myers and Christina Aguilera have been known to pick up quirky, irreverent and highly aesthetic dolls, teddy bears and the like at hip urban-toy stores such as Budnitz's. "Having graphic or graffiti artists involved makes these toys fresh looking and adds depth, but you don't need to go deep to enjoy them," he says. As for what the artists get out of the experience, Keanan Duffty, the edgy British fashion designer, says, "I always try to be innovative in my work, and this is another way to do just that." His England's Dreaming Be@rbrick teddy bear will be available in June, with a large 11-in. version to be sold by itself and a 3-in. bear to be sold as part of a T-shirt purchase from his clothing line.