Sunday, May 31, 2009

collector's profile: the boy behind bare

This letter B stands for...

... the handsome Bill Psonis (below), the brains behind Bare (barenomore.com), an online toy shop based in Greece. He's the one who took the pic of the Series 16 'B' Bearbrick (above) against the famous White Tower of Thessaloniki.

Bill told me that his love for Bearbricks inspired him to start his own web-based shop in 2006. Today, he sells a good variety of toy brands such as Medicom, Toy2r, Kidrobot, Amos Toys, Strangeco, Crazylabel and creations from known designers like Kaws, Michael Lau, Patrick Chow, Kennyswork, Devilrobots and upcoming ones like Michael Kwong and T9G.

His blog (which you can access from barenomore.com) highlights new toy releases, as well as news about designers that he personally likes.

That's a 1000% Mastermind Bearbrick he is holding in the pic above. (I love his dotted Nike Dunk shoes designed by Japanese musician/trendsetter Hiroshi Fujiwara.)


(Above) His shop's official business card. You can tell he's a very creative guy.

(Below) Bill with his 1000% (0r 28-inch) Bearbricks and other toys from his collection.

(Left to right) Sex Pistols "Never mind the Bollocks", Sex Pistols "God Save the Queen", Rolling Stone, and Mastermind. FYI, the 16-inch bear on the extreme right is not a Bearbrick – it's a Qee Toyer Bear.

As you can see, Bill (in black Converse x Fujiwara sneakers) has a simple but sharp sense of style. He wears Sophnet, Visvim, Originalfake & Head Porter Plus, all trendy street fashion brands from Japan.

He has around one hundred eighty 100% Bearbricks...

...and twenty-five 400%s (or 10-inch) bears.

Aside from Bearbricks, Bill also collects Kubricks and Hasbro Star Wars 4-inch figures. His favorite Asian toy designer is Michael Lau. He told me that he even managed to get Lau's latest CSBOOTH16 figures in his shop – at very reasonable prices!

Part of his vision was to provide toy collectors an alternative to today's outrageous eBay prices. Boy, do we need more guys like Bill! :-)

Bare Shopping Tip: Enjoy FREE shipping via registered airmail for all purchases above 70euro. Happy shopping!

All pics by Bill Psonis / Nike X Fujiwara pic from www.tierze.ro

5 comments:

sunny said...

have you seen series 18? wonderful wonderful series!

bearbricklove.com said...

Yes, Sunny, I especially love the Tetris Pattern bear. Though I think it's unusual that the Pattern bear is jellified. I love the Blue Tokidoki Artist bear, too! :-)

Anonymous said...

Great post, I love your blog.
Just one thing, the Fujiwara sneakers are Dunks, not AF1's

bearbricklove.com said...

You're right, Anonymous, the fully polka-dotted ones are Dunk Lows. The AF1s are only half polka-dotted. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

It was extremely interesting for me to read the blog. Thanks for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read a bit more on that blog soon.