Artists To Watch Las Vegas | Music Interviews, Live Performances & Rising Artists

Speaker 1 0:00
Hi guys, welcome. We are welcoming Kai in today. Kai, do you want to introduce yourself?

Speaker 2 0:06
Hi everyone. My name is Kai, the CEO of DesignerCon.

Speaker 1 0:10
Perfect. I'm M, and I'm going to be asking you a few questions just so UNLV can get to know you and what DesignCon is. So, just kind of starting off, what is DesignCon? If to somebody that's never heard about it before, how would you explain it or introduce it to somebody?

Speaker 2 0:26
Designer Con. Yeah, Designer Con is a convention full of independent artists, brands showcasing their unique talents and work. Think of it as a Comic Con, but we're more focused on the individual artists, more niche, and you can meet your favorite artists if you have one, and you get to be part of the community that follows independent artists.

Speaker 1 0:54
Do you have a favorite artist?

Speaker 2 0:56
Yes, I have a few. You know, I run the convention, so I can't really be biased, but I can say like couple of them. You know, the creator of the Labubu. I'm sure everybody heard of him, right? Kasing Lang. He's a close friend, and Kaz is one of my favorite artists.

Speaker 1 1:13
Okay, super cool. It's got to be like super cool being able to meet new people all the time and meeting all the different artists and seeing their different creativity styles,

Speaker 2 1:22
yeah. Over the past 20 plus years, me being in this industry, yeah, it's it's great to see and meet them, you know, from different stages of their career, and be friends with them, or just know them and get to know their style or what they're working on, super interesting.

Speaker 1 1:43
Yeah, well, DesignerCon brings together so many different types of artists, designers, collectors, and brands. So, what do you think makes it different from other conventions and art events?

Speaker 2 1:54
Um, we're what's different is we're not focused on the mainstream pop culture only. We're focused on the individual artists and what they do, and there's some crossover between projects, different artists. You know, they. I say a lot of artists does their own work, but then to pay the bills, they gotta work for certain big brands or projects that does licensing, so you know bigger IPs that people have know, like you know maybe Mattel Hasbro, right? But then on their off time, they will do their own art and their own work.

Speaker 1 2:36
Well, that's super cool. What would you say originally drew you to wanting to be like run this and just like toys and everything.

Speaker 2 2:45
I started super young. I started collecting trading cards when I was young, and Pokemon when it first came out. You know, I'm dating myself 30 years ago. I was young and I go after it. As I see a new trend of blind boxes came out in the early 2000s from Japan, that drew me into it because I knew what a how to rip a trading card pack, right? Like you get the surprises and all that stuff. So that's kind of what drew me into designer toys and vinyl toys and and toys and collectibles in general. And I got to discover that there's actually real artists, right? When I was young, I didn't understand it. I thought it was just different people. It all just comes together. But you you meet the real people behind it. You see their talent and their different style, and that's kind of what I want to do. And and it just kind of went from you know just collecting to becoming a curator and bringing communities and collectors together. Designer gone because we showcase all the somewhat famous artists in our world and then all the emerging up and coming artists. We want to showcase their work.

Speaker 1 3:59
That's super cool. I love hearing like about the Pokemon. We definitely I know so many people have grown up with Pokemon and different like the blind boxes are so famous right now. Right. So you guys are growing exponentially, which is just so cool to see. When I heard about this, I was definitely excited. I was like, I want to go.

Speaker 2 4:15
I'll definitely please come. I think we're gonna. I'm not sure if this is the right point in time to say it, but we do have a special link for students for UNLV. It's on our website, so it's basically designer.com.com/student, and they get to fill out a form. We're giving away some free tickets on Sunday for students.

Speaker 1 4:39
Perfect. So you guys heard it here first. Make sure to go get tickets because it's gonna be so fun. Because with that being said, it has been a thing for 21 years now. Is that correct?

Speaker 2 4:48
Yeah, 21 years. Last year we celebrated our 20th anniversary. It's just been slowly, you know, growing. We're not a huge corporation like. Comic Con, San Diego Comic Con, like those big corporations with big sponsors behind it, or just me and my business, my partner Ben. He started 21 years ago. I came on board about 11. I was a collector, and we just wanted to bring community to our to our space and collectors. They get to meet their favorite artists. They get to buy the exclusives, you know. So it just makes us happy that this exists for everybody.

Speaker 1 5:28
I love that. And Vegas is definitely a melting pot. You're gonna get so many different people and so many different experiences out of it. So it's amazing that you guys have been here. This will be your third year.

Speaker 2 5:37
Yeah, this is our third year in Vegas. We started in Pasadena, California, which actually for our 11th, 21st year, we we expanded back there earlier in the summer. But Vegas is our third year. We love it here, like you said. It's a melting pot, and different people. You know, people come through the city, and also focus on different things as this city grow into different entertainment and different sections of industry. I can see a lot of different collectors and into different art and different toys being produced. So yeah, it's our third year. We have some cool stuff in the works. A lot of different brands that's coming, you know, with the big molar sport event within our time frame. We have SEMA and F1, right, around the same time. So we have some brands and artists that's kind of like involved in both that's coming to DCON.

Speaker 1 6:38
It's definitely cool that you guys are coming to Vegas. Community is a big thing here. We just there's so many diverse people, and you get to learn so many cool things about everybody. But it definitely Vegas is different than anywhere else you'll ever go. What's the biggest like? What was the biggest learning curve when you guys first moved here?

Speaker 2 6:57
It's the locals, like you said. Vegas is a a lot of transient. It's like a transient city, right? Like, not a lot of people are from here originally. A lot of people moved here in the pandemic. We came in 2023, so a lot of you know us, me and my business partner, we moved here because of it as well. So just kind of get to know the local community, kind of know what they're looking for and introducing ourselves to them. We focused on that's why we're here, right? We want to be an outreach to students and community. And last year we focused on local advertising to the local communities. That if you like art and collectibles, we're the place for you. And you most people have never seen a convention like Designer Con before until they experience it.

Speaker 1 7:46
Designer Con is definitely a. It's just so cool seeing all the different artists and everything come out and getting to see the different art styles. Do you have a favorite art style?

Speaker 2 7:56
Uh, I I like watercolor, some watercolor stuff, and I also like personally like a lot of the graffiti.

Speaker 1 8:05
I have to agree. The graffiti is always my favorite.

Speaker 2 8:08
So it depends. Also, you know, art hits everybody differently. Like I see it as everybody's experience different. So you get to see different ones, and you get to discover what you like a designer come. Like, you get to we have over three, 400 artists and brands, and if you walk around, you get to discover. Maybe you like this thing going in, and coming out, you might like. I I found some like five different artists I love, and you get to follow them and get to meet them there,

Speaker 1 8:41
it's definitely cool getting to see like all the different types of toys you might not even know the blind boxes. It's it's always a different experience every year you go, and that's just the cool part about Vegas is you're never gonna get the same experience because there's something always going on. What do you hope your visitors get from Design Con at the end of the day?

Speaker 2 9:00
At the end of the day, I think we we hope that they discover something new. We're we're basically designercon full of like I said established artists and brands, and also we're catering to emerging artists and brands, right? For example, like like I brought up earlier, Labubu When Labubu first came out in the U.S. Designercon was the first event that Pop Mart showcased in North America. We were we were their first one, and Labubu and the creator were friends, and we've been pushing them in North America for very long time. In the last two years, they blew up, and he actually came to Vegas 2023. He was here in person our first year, and the line was crazy, right? So every year is different. So what I want people to know is, or get to, for sure to to come about, come away with it is, they get to discover something new. To keep an open mind when you walk in, it's not your traditional. Convention, I will say, I think too crazy, but I think a lot of cool stuff you get to see in person, and yeah. So I hope somebody, people discover and artists and students discover something that they love.

Speaker 1 10:14
I love that, and the memories you make in Las Vegas and just at all the conventions that we can hold in like in Vegas are amazing. So you can meet your best friend at something and never even expect it. So just like, what would you say your favorite memory from it would be?

Speaker 2 10:31
From DesignerCon?

Speaker 1 10:32
Yes.

Speaker 2 10:33
Well, so I started as a fan of the of the event. Like I said, my business partner Ben started 21 years ago. There's a photo I posted a photo of me about 18 years ago. 18 years ago, waiting outside of one of the first designer cons as a fan, right? So now that I get to help run, I think just overall the years, like the Pot Mart thing, the first Pot Mart, bringing costing along to to to designer con. This year we're introducing a lot of like trading cards blowing up again. We're introducing like trading cards and diecast sections where artists or a lot of artists are doing their independent IPs, independent trading cards, and I have diecast area that's like kind of linked to f1 and and it's motorsport and just bringing all these new things and getting to people to see you know that makes me happy. Like when people see it for the first time that oh shit I couldn't say oh shoot I I couldn't believe I I found something like this a designer con where I didn't know exists, right? So I think that's what I love about it, and you know those moments of the very first thing happening in North America, if it's at Designer Con, it makes me proud of my team and us to pull it through. So,

Speaker 1 11:56
with Designer Con coming up, is there like something you're really excited for people to know about that you guys are going to be having this year.

Speaker 2 12:03
Yes, so we have two or three things that's really big that we have coming up. It's basically like I said, we're a discovery platform for people to discover North America, so we have two giant Japanese IPs that wanted to use DesignerCon as kind of a breaking endpoint. So you'll see a lot of exclusive coming in from those IPs from different U.S. artists. So we're making exclusive products with those IPs, and you get to see it. And I think by the time this comes out, I should be able to say it. So, like, I'm not sure if you guys know, Ultraman. Ultraman is a big thing in the 60s, 70s in Japan. It's big in Asia, but in the U.S. it's not very much people know. But we're doing exclusive collaboration with Ultraman, and the Metacom Toy does a lot of bear bricks, like these things.

Speaker 1 13:02
Okay, they're so cool.

Speaker 2 13:03
So there's gonna be a big IP that came out 30 years ago. It's a movie with some cartoon bunnies.

Speaker 3 13:14
Okay, wanna

Speaker 2 13:15
say? I can't say exactly, but that will be released at designer cones exclusives.

Speaker 1 13:21
Okay, so what we're getting at is, if you want to know all of this, you have to come to DesignerCon this year and come see it all because it's gonna be really cool.

Speaker 2 13:29
Right,

Speaker 1 13:30
I love that, and I'm I'm so ready. I'm gonna go, and I'm excited to see all of this.

Speaker 2 13:34
Thank you. Yeah, me too. I'm excited to show everybody.

Speaker 1 13:39
I love that. So just a quick. This is going to college students and just people around Vegas. So whether you're a student, a professor, somewhere in between, family, whatever, is there really just like there's something for everybody? Where should a total first time person start when they walk onto the floor?

Speaker 2 14:00
I think if you've never been DesignerCon, like I said, come in with an open mind, and I would say take a take a lap around the show. It is kind of it's it's pretty big. I would say just walk around and check it out. There's gonna be bigger brands, obviously, probably in the front. Depends on where you like there's some there's artist tables so like independent artist tables or bigger booth so depends on what you like I would say walk around and then go where where it calls you I say just because art and collectibles treats everybody differently if you find something interesting go up to an artist they're they're super opening and welcoming new audiences and collectors. So go ask a question. I would say go ask a question. Like, how did you make this? How did you come up with this? What is it? Right. I think that's the main thing. If you see something that you never seen before, ask what what is it? Is it a toy? Is it a statue? What is it? Because. With technology these days, we have last year there was a vendor artist that did 3d printing, right? So he printed a bunch of collectibles to himself. So like 3d printing could be big. Just ask questions. What is it? And and get to know the artists and brands. There's going to be a lot of stuff, just like boxes. There's going to be new Asian brands that's coming to like ask the question, what is it?

Speaker 1 15:26
I love that, and it's gonna be so cool just watching like seeing all these things. And I definitely get out there and like ask questions is a big thing. I feel like people are so scared to ask now. So I love that you guys are wanting people to come in and ask questions and like just learn more about everything going on. It's not a scary thing to ask questions. It's learning, and you can't. It's never going to be a bad question,

Speaker 2 15:47
right? Of course, that's what exactly what it is. It's we're we're discovery event, so there's going to be a lot of cool things for people that have never been to DesignerCon. So I think you got to come with an open mind and ask, what are you seeing? So if that if you like it and you become a fan of the artist for brand, then that's the beginning, and that's what makes me and my colleagues happy.

Speaker 1 16:12
I love to hear that. That's amazing. I love asking questions. I I love just like getting a good yap session in, learning about different things. I think it's so cool. So, just I love when people ask me questions about stuff I'm doing, and I can I love asking other people about stuff that they're doing. So, just hearing that you guys are so happy with all of that is absolutely insane. Because most people are like maybe, but you guys are very welcoming, and I'm so happy to hear it. So, I hope people come and like it's just like the biggest event we can possibly put on this year. With that said, UNLV is a huge art school, so people are always asking questions. We've always got art going around Vegas. It's just we've got so much going on here. So we do bring in a lot of artists coming to UNLV. So if any person is in art, design, a collectibles world. What would you tell a student or somebody? What would be your biggest piece of advice for them?

Speaker 2 17:09
My biggest piece of advice would be put your work out there. If it's an if an artist, you know, student artist, I would say put your work out there, showcase your work. We're in the age of content creation and media. I've seen for the past 20 years, a lot of artists might not be good at promoting themselves, right? So just record your stuff, post your work, get it out there. I think that's the main thing right now. We're in 2026. That's the number one thing I think for as an artist or young student to kind of just get their work out there, and then ask questions if they don't know. Find a mentor. Go, you know, go to designercom. Maybe they find an artist that they like and and see if they can get some advice from them. And yeah, and then if you're in if you're in this world, but like you're not an artist. There's a lot of other things you could do, right? Like from marketing, from PR's perspective. Like I said, a lot of artists needs help. Event, event like creation. Like what were you doing? We put on an event for this community. So there's a lot of different things. A lot of just to go out and explore and see what, see what you're into.

Speaker 1 18:24
I love that, and just making like designer con isn't just it is about the artist, but it isn't just about art and making something in that way. It's also about PR, marketing, media, event production. Like there's so much that goes into it, and journalism is a huge thing at our school. We we just have like we built something amazing here. So just how would you tell students to like get their name out there and just keep working with like work together and kind of get to that point to where they can ask questions and work with you guys?

Speaker 2 18:55
Oh yeah, we're always you know as designer come as a convention we're always looking for obviously artists and vendors and and people that wants to showcase their art or sell their art, right? But the number one thing is I think just to put your work out there and then kind of get people's attention. There's a lot of we do our best as an event to have brands and an artist that's there that could maybe help young artists and help people. A lot of the brands that we we have there, they love having young artists and unknown talent approach them, say, "Hey, this is my portfolio. What do you guys think? Or if someone's looking for new talent, right? Because there's a lot of toy brands out there looking for new artists, looking for talent, and a lot of them are at designer con. So I think just the number one thing is putting your art and your work out there, and then showcase, show it to somebody, and then yeah, and then you never know where it goes. And a lot of people that walks designer car, we have a lot of brands that comes to scout, so they don't just like be there, but they're like, oh, like I I don't know if you guys know Lorcana. Lord Khanna is the new Disney trading card, so Lorcana was out there last year scouting new artists for their product, right? One of the biggest story that I I personally know is an artist. His name is Peter, and he did designer con maybe eight years ago, and he was discovered by Hot Topic, and now he's the creative director from Mondo, who was owned by Funko at one point, right? So, so there's a lot of those stories that you never know who's gonna walk around, who's gonna see your, and where your career go. I

Speaker 1 20:49
love that we're definitely we're so diverse, and everyone's gonna have their own experiences, and you never know somebody's story, so it's crazy just like being able to hear somebody else's story and see how they started, and it's definitely inspirational for students listening and like that are trying to get into the industry. So I

Speaker 2 21:04
hope so. Yeah. So that's that's I think that's one of the point that we want to convey to students here.

Speaker 1 21:12
Well, one last question for you, real quick, before we wrap everything up. Just for I know we kind of already talked about it, but for anybody that does want to go to DesignerCon, how can they get tickets, and when is it?

Speaker 2 21:26
You can get tickets on our website designercon.com, and it's going to be November 13th through 15th. It's a three-day event. Friday night is VIP only, so we have different package tiers. You can get just weekend, Saturday and Sunday, or you can just get one day tickets. But if you get the VIP, you get all Friday night, all four four hours on Friday night, all to yourselves. If you like to collect, if you want to be one of the first one to to see the new stuff, you probably want to get VIP tickets. But if you just want to check it out, you're unsure weekend tickets, week single day tickets are available, and like I said to the students, you get to claim a Sunday ticket for free if you just want to do that as well.

Speaker 1 22:09
And if they want to learn more about you guys, where can they find you?

Speaker 2 22:11
You guys can find us. Everybody can find us on Instagram at DesignerCon on our website designercon.com. We're mostly on Instagram and Twitter or X.

Speaker 1 22:27
I love that. I know. I still do the same thing.

Speaker 2 22:29
Yeah.

Speaker 1 22:29
Well, we're so thankful to have you today. Is there anything you want to tell the tell the listeners before we leave?

Speaker 2 22:37
Yeah, we're we're looking forward to meeting everybody. If if you see me or see anybody, if you heard from this program, I hope everybody comes through and just say hi, and just spread the word. If you like the art, if you like the collectibles world, I think just tell your friends and family that designer comes happening.

Speaker 1 22:59
Yes, spread the word. Word to mouth is definitely one of the best ways to get everything out there. So make sure you guys are at DesignerCon coming up, and we're so thankful for to have you and to learn more about your guys's convention. Thank you for being here today.

Speaker 2 23:12
Thank you for having me.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai