Take me to wonderland

Wonderland a place where spirits meet, love and passion rule, good things happen and energy is key.


Toshy likes to invite you and take you on a journey to Wonderland. With his art he likes to inspire people. Art with  messages to support, activate and motivate. For every individual wonderland has a different meaning. Wonderland can be a world full of flowers, a candystore, pure love, a relationship, harmony, a family, luxury, a sunrise or sunset or freedom in life. 

The story tells about where Toshy comes from, what inspires and motivates him, some remarkable stories, productdevelopment and his vision on life. A multi disciplinairy artist (360 creative) thats sees his world as his stage and loves to take you to wonderland.

Enjoy the story!

 

STYLE WARS 1985

Style Wars is an American 1983 documentary film on hip hop culture and its American roots, directed by Tony Silver and produced in collaboration with Henry Chalfant. This film inspired Toshy in 1985 to start with illegal graffiti in the streets of The Netherlands.Toshy became one of the first Dutch Graffiti artists. Packed with stolen spraycans and dressed in all black he painted many tags and pieces in the night.

See this documentary below

EXPRESS YOURSELF!

Customized schoolbags and diaries

MId-Eighties Toshy used his school diary as a blackbook (Black book, a slang term for a graffiti artist’s notebook or sketchbook). Kids at school asked him to paint their schoolbags (25 Dutch guilders/12 euros/14$).

Oldskool HipHop icons like Salt & Peppa, Run DMC, LL Cool J, Grandmasterflas influences his style. 

Westcoast style

Palmtrees and small skyscrapers. It was clear the westcoast style influenced the illustrative part of his graffiti pieces. 

 

 

URBAN CULTURE,
GRAFFITI, HIPHOP,
POP ART,
ACID HOUSE,
LOVEPARADE BERLIN,
IBIZA, SUPERMODELS,
MADONNA,
GEORGE MICHAEL..

 

Toshy and the eighties & nineties

Influenced by The Louvre Museum in Paris and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam

Toshy was taken to various museums in Paris and Amsterdam as a young boy. During this time, Toshy was inspired by icons such as Erwin Olaf, Keith Haring, Jeff Koons and Roy Lichtenstein. He soon became a talented pencil artist with a passion. In the 80s, Toshy was inspired by sexy visuals used in fashion and combined them with graphics and animations. He identified with the ‘smiley’ symbol. During these times, pop icon video clips with stars such as Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince and Depeche Mode instilled a strong vision in how creativity could be portrayed in the world. Halfway through the decade, the street art culture emerged.

TOSHY PHOTOGRAPHY

Peter Lindberg, Helmut Newton
and Sam Haskins

As a multi disciplinairy artist Toshy is a painter, pohotgrapher, illustrator, designer, videographer, musician etc. etc.  His photo-style is definitely influenced by the black and white photos of Lindberg, Newton and Haskins. 

Toshy loves to photographe by surprise.
For his photoshoots he likes to improvise with the location, model, situation, available (day)light and mood. No stylists, No make-up artists and he selects his models on instagram without seeing them in person before. 

“Give me a model, a white or black background, daylight and my camera and I’ll make it happen!”- Let me photographe you like no one did before”. Take a look at the photo-projectpage “We’re all human”.

TOSHY FASHION

“My message to the world must be seen in the streets of Amsterdam, New York, London and Milan. You can see it as moving graffiti walls”

In the eighties Toshy painted messages on the walls in the streets. Now he sees in fashion an opportunity to spread his messages. Every fashion product comes with a message. People that wear Toshy fashion are aware of the fact that fashion communicates and can expand their identity. 

In collaboration with the best tailers Toshy creates unique one of a kind fashion products, he also customizes existing products. The unique products are part of the “AUTHENTIC” collection. Besides this he develops products in collaboration with small production companies in Europe. 

With every production Toshy keeps an eye on quality, creativity, exacution and sustainability. 

Find yourself some cool products in the Fashion section.

 

INTERIOR

In collaboration with diverse interior brands Toshy customized several product. At the internatioanl interior designweek Salone di Mobile Milan Toshy customized a Normann Copenhagen chair.But customizing furniture in collaboration with other brands isnt all. Toshy developed, in collaboration woth LEOXX, a rug collection. Besides collection Toshy offers a wall art object serie and his famous “Mirror Mirror”.

 

“Each design is specially designed for the wearer. The message must match the product. The message of “Mirror Mirror” is about selfies and Instagram”. The mirror “Hello my love” is about selflove.

EXPECT MORE

In the nearby future you can also expect cushions, wallpaper and curtains. 3d objects and new mirrors. With Toshy you can always expect more. Toshy also creates commissioned interior objects and accessories. Several of his fanous quotes can be products as wooden wall objects. 

Find the explanation of “Mirror Mirror” here.

JEWELRY

All TOSHY icons represent a message. In January 2023, the first TOSHY jewel was launched. With the – Surround yourself with flowers – jewel, another high-quality product has been added to the TOSHY collection.

 

“From a quality and sustainability perspective, we work as much as possible with local production workshops. Under the watchful eye of the artist Toshy, the jewels are individually made to perfection”.

 

The highest quality for you

4 Cs selection 

At TOSHY, each jewel is crafted by the master goldsmith. We use hand-selected diamonds of the best quality. Our master goldsmith selects the most expertly crafted diamonds in Antwerp based on the 4Cs. 
 
Every diamond, has certain distinguishing characteristics. When selecting the diamond with ultimate brilliance, specific attention is paid to: Carat, Color, Clarity and Cut (4C) 0.10 ct in weight, E/F color in whiteness, VVS in purity and an excellent brilliant cut for the best result. Our VVS diamonds are known to be one of the highest grades of diamonds in terms of clarity. 
 
 
TOSHY AUTHENTIC
 
This jewel design is part of the TOSHY Authentic collection. Living a luxurious lifestyle is not about displaying wealth, but showing positive messages in quality products that stand the test of time.

Find the jewel productpage here.

TOSHY TECHNIQUES

“Give me a blanc canvas, surface, paper and some paint or something to paint with and I can create art” Toshy isn’t about sketching or a specific tecnhique. The concept, the idea it’s all created in his head. He likes to create art without a physical sketch. 

 

“I love it when the idea and the energy of the moment comes together in my creations. The artworks connects more when I create it in the moment. I have to feel what I want to create an then I create. Sometimes there’s a blanc canvas waiting for days before I feel the right energy to create it. When I create art based on a sketch it feels like creating a copy. It will not be as good as the “sketch” the sketch itself is the artwork”.

 

Materials & Technique

Toshy uses spraypaint, waterpaint, acryllic, oil based paint, chalk, clay, powders, gold foil, indian ink, collage techniques etc. He likes to experiment with paint combinations that don’t really go well together and thus creates his own style and technique.