Tokidoki: The Art of Simone Legno

by Simone Legno

Celebrate the history and explore the unique universe of tokidoki in this nearly 400-page monograph tokidoki, which translates to “sometimes” in Japanese, is an internationally-recognized and iconic lifestyle brand based on the vision of Italian artist Simone Legno and his partners, serial entrepreneurs Pooneh Mohajer and Ivan Arnold. Since debuting in 2005, tokidoki has amassed a cult-like following for its larger-than-life characters and emerged as a sought-after global lifestyle brand. tokidoki offers an extensive range of products which include apparel, handbags, cosmetics, accessories, toys and more. Simone Legno, tokidoki’s Chief Creative Officer, was born in Rome, Italy and from a very young age developed a deep love of Japan and a fascination with world cultures. Combining Legno’s unique talent and creativity with Mohajer’s business acumen, tokidoki has grown exponentially. As an innovative company, tokidoki is known not only for its eye-popping aesthetic and criminally cute characters but also its megawatt partnerships. For more information, please visit

Genres: Art, Nonfiction

368 pages, Hardcover

Published September 13, 2022

Reviews

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Italian artist Simone Legno's tokidoki is a brand heavily influenced by Japanese culture that blends cute and edgy into a cornucopia of characters. This is a huge, coffee-table type of art book with quality paper and reproductions. The characters and color palettes are pretty infectious, which is what first drew me to Legno's art. I knew the brand was big, but I really had no idea of its global reach and the extent of its collaborations (Barbie, Hello Kitty, Nissan, Karl Lagerfeld... the list is really huge). It's possible the sheer saturation of all this made me less appreciative of the art and more so of the business (which covers everything from Legno's paintings to prints, toys, accessories, clothes, collectibles, figurines... ). Legno's paintings are almost entirely focussed on stylized, illustration/comic book-like portraits of Japanese girls. It's like his brain just keeps churning out little worlds and background stories for different sets of characters.
Mysterious Girl, acrylic painting


Moofia Characters


Collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld

[Christine Joy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tokidoki is like candy to neurodivergents. It makes a lot of sense after reading this and learning the guy was a huge Japanophile. I liked seeing all the collabs. It was awesome to see his Pow Wow Honolulu mural featured in here too; I remember seeing it daily when I was in college.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iconic.

[Gelo Arucan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book immortalizing the various works and collaborations of Simone Legno. Truly iconic!

[Lyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

colourful!