Not the end of the World. Just the end of Amos.

We are closed...

At precisely 14:00 today, store.amostoys.com closed its virtual doors for good.

A massive THANK YOU to everybody who shopped there over the years. Your support was always appreciated. You rule!

Next Gen.

Seeing that we're on our way out, it only seems fitting that we should offer a platform for the young guns coming through. All hail the Year 8s (now Year 9s) from the art department of Judgemeadow Community College, Leicester, for their In-Crowd-inspired design project. Top marks!

For more information about their "Look and Learn" exhibition follow the link:

Judgemeadow Community College

Thanks to Gurps for forwarding the link and images.

Amos Pound Store

Thanks to everyone who has shopped at the Amos online store over the last few weeks. The recent bargain bundles flew out. We are close to cleaned out. So now we're left with our last few bits and pieces. Other than books, most products are down to ones and twos in stock. So we've put everything left on sale for £1 a piece, whatever the item. We're not sending a mailout for this one as there's almost nothing left. So if you're reading this and want some bargains then follow the link to:

The Amos £Pound Store

Oh yeah. I lied a bit. There's a couple of items that cost a little more than a pound. But I figure they won't be there for very long...

Last chance...

Final reductions on remaining stock now. And two excellent value product bundles will be added to the store on Saturday.

store.amostoys.com

Everything Must Go!

End days...

This Saturday from 1pm. Amos at half price or less!

store.amostoys.com

Happy bargain hunting...

Closed for a bit...

The store.amostoys.com online shop will be shut temporarily.

They'll be a huge sale when it re-opens on Saturday October 20th.

More details soon...

A taste of Tokyo.

If you're a UK based Japanophile (like us) then we thoroughly recommend the exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Photobooks currently showing at the Photographer's Gallery in London. Curated by our good friend Jason Evans, and Ivan Vartanian, this show offers a wonderful and diverse insight into Japan and Japanese culture through a purely visual medium. There's a large table in the middle of the exhibition space to sit and leaf through the pages of any of the multitude of photography books on display. It's a little like browsing at one of the killer bookshops in Tokyo. 

There's an online Tumblr page too for a taste of some of what's on offer: contemporaryjapanesephotobooks.tumblr.com/

The exhibition is open until September 9th. Cannot recommend enough!

Got a few more...

We managed to grab an extra handful of Generic Character Alphabet Books from Japan. The first batch sold out fast in the store and these will more than likely be the last we can get. Get it at store.amostoys.com

I thoroughly recommend this one. One of my personal favourites from the last few years at Amos.

Going...going...gone...

One green AGC soft vinyl figure left at store.amostoys.com.

Books are showing as sold out but we hope to get a few more next week.

Massive thanks to everyone who bought AGCB products from the store and making it a huge success.

The boys at the store say orders should start shipping out next week.

Stay generic!

UPDATE: ALL GENERIC CHARACTER FIGURES HAVE NOW SOLD OUT. THANKS AGAIN.

Open to All...

... From Midday BST Thurday 2nd July.

    store.amostoys.com

Tonight from Midnight:01 BST...

For Gold Store Members. store.amostoys.com

THE OLYMPICS

Not sure if I'm even allowed to write THAT word here on our blog without my door getting kicked in and being forced to remove THAT word.

But hey. We're official! As I mentioned once before, it's amazing what you can do with a "generic" character.

You can see more here: Generic Collaboration

You will note that further down the page there is a comment from our illustrious leader.

If I'm not mistaken it roughly translates like this:

“Working on the character design for the Glaceau Vitamin Water campaign was a very interesting project.  We felt it was important that we use a design that would adequately convey the essence of the product. We chose our Amos Generic Character as we felt it possessed all the necessary qualities. By dressing it in the uniform of a London Horse Guard we were able to create a perfect symbol encapsulating what it means for the the Olympics to be held in London. We also felt that the Amos Generic Character would be a worthy illustrated ambassador for Glaceau Vitamin Water.”


Now that is special...

Announcement

As you may already know 2012 marks 10 years since the creation of Amos. We decided we would celebrate this important anniversary in two ways.

For the first we have created the Amos Generic Character Brand. Over the course of 2012 we have been using our Generic Character for a variety of collaborative projects, intended to emphasise its generic qualities. This culminated in the opening of the Amos Generic Character Brand Shop in Tokyo at the end of June. Open for five days only consumers were able to browse a selection of products all of which featured the Generic Character. The majority of these were produced by our partners in Japan, in limited quantity, specifically for this event and for sale in the Amos online stores in Japan and Europe.  From July 27^th it will be possible to buy a selection of these imported products from www.store.amostoys.com. This will include the Generic Character vinyl figure, the Generic Character Alphabet Book, and a very limited Generic Character B2 size screen print (already sold out in Japan). Signed up store customers will receive more information by email in the near future.

The second way we’ve decided to celebrate our 10-year anniversary is to make the Amos Generic Character Brand our last ever Amos project. These will be the final products to have been made by Amos and our partners. When we started Amos in 2002 we discussed the idea of giving it a limited life span. Now we are in 2012 we feel that the project has reached as far as we want to take it. We are proud of what we’ve achieved over the last 10 years and we feel the Amos Generic Character Brand is a perfect way to add a full stop to what we’ve accomplished. We will update the website and blog in due course but in the meantime we would like to thank everyone that has contributed and worked with us, and of course everyone who has bought Amos products, past and present, and so supported us on our adventure.

Cheers and here’s to the future!

1968 -

9 June 1941 - 16 July 2012

The Amos Final 40...

R n R in Tokyo

James and I took a day off during our recent trip to Tokyo and we head out to the very edges of the metropolitan area for a moderate day's hiking on Mount Mitake (elevation 929m). There's a wonderful shrine at the summit which was shrouded in mist the day we walked up. And for those averse to the exercise, there's also a cable car to the top.

Once up on the slopes there are great day hikes to various surrounding peaks, through forests, and along streams with waterfalls. The cloud was low on the hillside when we were there but apparently on clear days there are killer views of Tokyo and its environs.

We thoroughly recommend the area to anyone visiting Tokyo for a while, who may want to escape the concrete and lights. It's easily accessible, within 2 hours from the centre of the city using the local JR line rail service. Well worth the effort.

The Joy of Generic

Look what you can do with a Generic Character if you dress it in a London Horse-Guard's uniform.

Thank you One Gram

Thanks so much to everyone in Japan who helped make the AGCB Shop such a success.

Ken for backing the project, Teru for his guidance, Akiko for her late night email translations, and everyone else at One Gram, the best working partner anyone could wish for.

And extra special thanks to Yoshihiko Sakata without whose help this could never have happened. He's an absolute hero and we are very grateful for all his hard work. The space was perfect, the product excellent, the shop looked amazing, and Friday's reception was killer. Yoshihiko Sakata, we salute you!

Amos Generic Character Alphabet Book

Published in Tokyo on the occasion of the opening of the Amos Generic Character Shop.

A4, offset print, perfect bound. Edition of 250.

AGCB Set Up.

Opens tomorrow...