Friends With You

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cover design of Friends With You Have Powers!

A collection of designer toys by Friends With You

Friends with You is a commercial art collective based in Miami, Florida, founded by Sam Borkson and Arturo Sandoval in 2002, that creates designer toys, particularly plush and modular wood toys, as well as motion graphics, stop motion animation, and art installations that incorporate music. The Friends With You website states that they "make magical toys" that "help the every day person cope with the daily routines of their every day lives."

The work of Friends With You is distinguished by an aesthetic that is at once cute and bizarre, use of non-traditional materials, and a hand-made quality. Pieces are produced in small numbers, and are usually not re-released.

Friends With You toys feature entirely unique character designs, which departs from the plush design tradition of anthropomorphized animals, most notably the Malfi character and its variations: Naked Malfi, in a "nude" color scheme, Smiling Malfi, and Super Malfi, which features a random polka dot pattern. In addition to their names, dolls are given fantastic personas, and their distinctive personalities are described in booklet-style tags included with the dolls.

To date, Friends With You have produced 28 plush dolls, six wooden toys, and a small assortment of miniature figures. Additionally, they have exhibited work at the Hanna Gallery in Tokyo, 111 Minna Gallery in San Francisco, and the Jacksonville Museum of Modern Art in Florida, and have been commissioned to create motion graphics for companies such as Sony, MTV, Nike, and Columbia Records.

In October 2006, the German art press Die Gestalten Verlag published a Friends With You monograph titled Friends With You Have Powers!