I have loved and adored the new Hello Kitty Tokidoki items very much (I will discuss in a later post soon) but recently I just purchased a couple of Tokidoki purses sans Kitty and found them equally (well maybe not equally since the addition of Hello Kitty always makes anything better) kawaii and desirable. These are photos of the two purses I just got. If you are interested in Tokidoki purses be aware that there are tons of fakes. I found this article very helpful on finding legitimate sellers on ebay and how to spot a fake.

Concerto Punk Sorriso handbag

Geometric Girl Serena handbag

Tokidoki (which in Japanese means “sometimes”)  is the creation of Italian illustrator Simone Legno (he says his name this way: See-moneh Len-nyo with his Italian accent). The 32-year old illustrator (and cutie) now lives in LA and has built the Tokidoki brand into something quite formidable in only a few years. He had a personal website in 2003 with his illustrations that was discovered by the folks at Hard Candy Cosmetics who flew him to LA and said – hey let’s turn Tokidoki into a world-wide phenom! Simone said – sure – I’d love to get paid for my art!

In 2004 they started making vinyl toys and cute accessories (stickers, letter sets, etc.) and in 2006 they joined up with LeSportSac to make kawaii handbags and accessories. Hello Kitty soon followed and then a deal with Target to design school supplies and t-shirts for kids and now Simone and Tokidoki (click this link for a cool little interview with Simone) are big, big business. Yay for kawaii art!

Hiya Cutie illustrator guy! Ciao bello!

Tokidoki artwork

I am a fool for anything Tokidoki and wish I had enough money to buy one of everything! Simone keeps it fresh and I love the new directions he goes in. I just ordered some toy characters of his and I will let you know when I get them.

Tokidoki is my newest obsession so you will see lots more about it!