taipei hustles harder

This was a pop-up project I started when I moved back to Taiwan in 2014 to complete my MBA. It got some great momentum among the creatives in Taipei; the photographers, DJ’s, dancers, designers, entrepreneurs, and hustlers in general. It was a lot of fun and the shirts sold out pretty quickly. I really wanted to give props back to a city I lived in for close to three years that allowed me to get my hustle on.

While living in Taipei, I was DJing in several clubs, producing my own events, writing for a street wear magazine, selling mixtapes in Japan, selling food at music festivals, and travelling around Asia for work and play.

Taipei was my home base, so it will always be a special place for me.

dj and event planning

I have been behind the decks DJing since 1994. I hosted a radio show on CKLN 88.1 based out of Ryerson University in Toronto for five years.

I planned several events for local and international artists, as well as Music Showcases for North by North East and Canadian Music Week.

While living overseas from 2003 to 2009 I had the opportunity to DJ in different cities around Asia, as well as plan and execute tours with International DJ’s from Asia, Canada and the US.

WINE.CHEESE.ART.TRAP

wine.cheese.art.trap was an event that brought together curated cheese, wine, local tastemakers, fashion, art and music in a gallery space located in little Italy. It was a unique experience where bougie met street with art and music as the background. This is my most recent side endeavour, and its my first jump back into independent event production. I started this with the purpose of showcasing local art, with an adult backdrop of wine, cheese, art and good music. More information is located on Instagram @wine.cheese.art.trap

BLOCK.O ART SHOW

On Saturday October 5th, I helped put together block.o. We fed off the momentum of nuit blanche and created an event based on the idea of a Jamaican Blocko. A Blocko is a street party in Jamaica where they bring speakers out to line the street and in most cases it a party that goes all night. It seemed like a no-brainer to tag an event like this onto nuit blanche. I helped curate an evening that showcased the art and musical tastes of Mister Soy, a VR art gallery, and some works from Malcolm Emilio.

James Soy’s art practice was borne from a steady diet of cartoons, comics, music and other low brow sentiments. Figures/forms as contemporary iconography distilled through a pop-cultural lens. Ink, aerosol, and acrylic paint are used to create abstract, ephemeral spaces where figures float ungrounded. His black marker influenced works include robots, ninja stars, rudebwoys and illustrated homages to his homeland of Jamaica. Follow James on instagram @mistersoy

Malcolm Emilio is a local Toronto painter, and sculptor who has been featured at the Liss Gallery in Yorkville. He is a multifaceted creator making everything from clothing to jewelry and headwear. He is visionary in his concepts and designs and he channels his creativity from the elemental universe surrounding us. Follow Malcolm on instagram @stay_relevant