Today marked the fourth and final day of POW WOW Hawai’i. Originally conceived and launched in part by Jasper Wong approximately one year ago in Hong Kong, the event made its second stop in Wong’s native Hawai’i. The event’s basis is to highlight the actual process behind creating art rather than only focusing on the final product. Having said that, over the last few days, the event which took place at Loft in Space was created with an open studio concept in mind. People were allowed to come off the street and watch artists work in a natural and organic environment.

The event incuded a mix of both local and international artists such as Meggs (Australia), Will Barras (England), Aaron De La Cruz (USA), 123klan (Canada), Jeff Hamada (Canada), Yue Wu (France), Suitman (USA/Hong Kong) and local Hawaiian personalities including Jasper Wong, Prime, Kamea Hadar and Ekundayo.

Photography: Hypebeast

Following a successful start in Hong Kong, the art and music event known as POW WOW will change venues to the sandy beaches of Hawaii. The event conceived in part by Jasper Wong will occupy his hometown of Honolulu starting Feb. 16th through the 19th. The event’s premise will include an open event for people to stop by to watch the likes of 123KLAN, Yue Wu, Meggs, Jeff Hamada and local artists Jesico Serano, Prime and Kamea Hadar all work their creative magic. An after party will also include music from resident Hypebeast blogger Jules Gayton among others. For more information, head over to the official website and blog.

The “Small Victories” exhibition enjoyed its opening last night at Hong Kong’s Above Second Gallery. The show curated by Jeff Hamada in association with his creative platform Booooooom featured 101 different submitted works of photography in a 6 x 4 format. The focus of each photo was on the sometimes seemingly inconsequential but ultimately important parts of life that come together and illicit that quick smile and make life worth living. A look at all 101 photos can be seen over at Booooooom.

Approximately two months ago, Booooooom launched their tenth creative project titled “Small Victories”. Celebrating the candid and unforeseen circumstances that play out each day, the user-driven project involved people sending in 4 x 6 submissions of photographs that represented the “little moments that make life worth living”. The project culminates next week with a gallery showing at Above Second in Hong Kong starting Thursday, May 20th. Booooooom founder and artist in his own right Jeff Hamada will also be attending the exhibition opening.

“Small Victories” A Booooooom Project
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
6:00 pm – 10:00 pm
31 Eastern Street
Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong
p: 852.3483.7950

Thursday night marked the official release of Jeff Hamada’s project shoe with Converse 1Hund(RED) as the event took place at Vancouver’s Livestock location on 4th. The well-attended event featured not only the release of the shoe but also the debut of Hamada’s work together with Livestock on their official Artist Series collection of t-shirts. Hamada was also on-hand to autograph shoes and meet with a number of fans in an intimate setting. For more information on the whole project, check out our recent feature.

Photography: Jolin Ras

In the shoe that might not have seen the light of day on a retail level, we take the opportunity to speak with Vancouver, Canada’s Jeff Hamada regarding his design for the Converse (PRODUCT) RED campaign as well his approach to graphic design and art. Following a Fine Arts diploma at Langara College, Jeff Hamada would go on to earn a Bachelor degree in Media Arts at the respected Emily Carr Universtiy of Art + Design. Going forward, his talents were immediately recognized by Electronic Arts as he quickly developed an efficient methodology towards commercial art. For most of you, you’re perhaps most familiar with Jeff Hamada’s work for various street and snow brands such as 3sixteen, Soul Assassins, and Endeavor among others, yet this commercial work should by no means be indicative of the full talents of Jeff Hamada. Most recently this Converse project as well as his upcoming work with Livestock are a more rounded take from a truly artistic perspective from the talented individual. The launch of his Converse (PRODUCT) Red All Star High begins tonight, Thursday, February 19th, 2009 with a special gathering hosted by Vancouver sneaker store Livestock’s 4th Ave location. The event begins at 8:00 pm and runs until 11:00 pm.

Working together on the upcoming hosting of Jeff Hamada’s Converse PRODUCT (RED) release, Livestock has also partnered with the talented multi-discipline artist to put together a small capsule of t-shirts for Livestock’s ongoing artist series collection. The t-shirts have allowed for a freer creative approach unlike the work Jeff Hamada has done for other brands under certain themes and concepts. Seeing full well the diversity in his visual communication, we look forward to more works out of Hamada in the future. The t-shirts will be unveiled on Thursday, January 19th at Livestock 4th.

Livestock presents: Jeff Hamada for Converse 1Hund(RED) Release
1709 West 4th ave. Vancouver
Thursday, February 19th
8:00 pm – 11:00 pm

One of Vancouver’s longest serving sneaker stores Livestock teams up with local artist and budding online creative mastermind Jeff Hamada in the launch of the talented artist’s upcoming collaboration Chuck Taylor All Star. As part of the Converse 1Hund(RED) project, the artist and collaboration driven project offers respective creatives a chance to create their own themes and concepts on the iconic Chuck Taylor All Star canvas. All profits from the sale of the shoes on the Livestock-hosted event will go directly to The Global Fund Charity. The event will take place at Livestock’s 4th ave. store on Thursday, February 19th starting at 8:00 pm.

Livestock presents: Jeff Hamada for Converse 1Hund(RED) Release
Thursday, February 19th
8:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Livestock
1709 West 4th ave. Vancouver

Recently teaming up with Converse on the 1HUND(RED) project, multi-faceted artist/designer Jeff Hamada gets his hands into another collaboration effort, this time with the GreyOne/ Soul Assassins team, which recently merged together to create the G1SA Identity. Similar to the previous GreyOne New Era release, these ELM Company caps feature a nice suede palette with the embroidered Soul Assassins crest and satin lining coming in a Grey and Black colorway. Both hats will release August 1st at the G1SA store in Pasadena.

G1SA
2220 East Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91107

Source: C’est La Vie

We have just received exclusive photos of an upcoming Converse 1HUND(RED) release by artist/Designer Jeff Hamada. The shoes are not out yet but will be dropping at select stores later this year.

Converse commissioned 100 musicians, graphic and graffiti artists from all over the world to create one-of-a-kind sneaker designs inspired by the global fight against HIV/AIDS in Africa. You may recall the Dr. Romanelli Chuck Taylors for the 1HUND(RED) project that debuted earlier in the year.

Converse sent each artist a questionnaire to fill out regarding the project and we have an excerpt from it. Jeff answered a few questions about the concept behind his design, as well as some thoughts about people’s perceptions of the crisis in Africa. Read it and see more pictures after the jump.

How did you come up with your 1HUND(RED) design–what was your inspiration?
When I was contacted about the project I immediately started to sketch out some ideas, and I kept drawing hands. Hands reaching out, reaching up. I just had this image of all these hands. It wasn¹t like I went and read books and researched for the project (which I often do), this was more of a gut reaction, like the first thing that popped into my mind.

How does your design relate to the theme of 1HUND(RED)? Or to issues of AIDS?
Well first of all, there are 100 hands on the shoe. I guess it’s like a safety net solution for relating any imagery to the project. I could very well have drawn 100 toe nail clippers on the shoe in that sense. But I think the hands are very much related to the issues at the heart of this project. I wanted the imagery to be seen from two points of view – As the hands of the world reaching out to help Africa, and also as the hands of all the people in Africa reaching up for help. I wanted there to be a variety of shades of skin color to represent this idea, and the little bits of blue are there to kind of represent a hopeful point of view about the struggle that is going on over there.

What do you want people to take away from your shoe design in terms of (PRODUCT) RED? But also in terms of trying to help people?
I have this picture of a large group of people stuck in this deep hole in the ground and they’re all desperately calling for help. Meanwhile, above them, there’s all these other people walking around carrying these huge ladders. Some are even carrying three or four ladders at once! There is such an abundance of ladders that people are actually piling them up and setting fire to them, just to get rid of them. As the voices of those trapped in the holes get louder the fires just continue to burn. I guess the message of my shoe isn’t just about Africa, it’s common sense, it’s day to day, it’s everyday. I think it’s your duty as a human being to help those in need.

Can creativity make people care? How/why?
I think it can but not on its own. Creativity alone, while it is a great vehicle for spreading a message, can still be ignored. I think TRUTH is the only the thing that can’t be ignored (at least not forever). If there is truth in the message and it is creatively presented so that people can actually understand it, then it has the ability to make people care.