We are excited to host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) with Bryan Figueroa! @BryanF
Bryan Figueroa is a legend in the yoyo community with 6 US National Championships under his belt and has most recently been awarded Trick Innovator of the Year. His 1A and 4A are just amazing.
He was part of Team YoYoJam and released three signature offstring yoyos with them (the Fiesta, Fiesta XX, and Fiesta Tres).
Now Bryan is part of Japan Technology and his newest signature offstring yoyo has just arrived - The TRUENO! In addition he is the owner of Unknown [uhn-nohn] and creates some of the best special edition yoyos the yoyo world has ever seen.
So ask away - this man is incredible. Want to ask him about how he comes up with tricks or his favorites? What it was like winning Nationals? Maybe just his favorite food? Whatever it is, stop by and ask him a question!
Post your question in THIS THREAD any time Before Friday (1/7), Bryan will be answering them throughout the next two days.
We will be GIVING AWAY PRIZES!
Every question counts as one entry - up to three entries max per question asked. Entries stop counting on Friday 1/7 at 11:59pm PST.
We will give away one grand prize winner $100 Gift Certificate to YoYoExpert!
Two runner ups will each get $50 Gift Certificates
and Bryan’s favorite question will win a TRUENO and a $50 YoYoExpert Gift Card!
Bonus option for extra entry - post a picture of YOURSELF HOLDING any Bryan signature yoyo (Fiesta or Aire) and it will count as two ‘entries’ into the raffle!
Sometimes companies come to me and ask if I’m interested in doing an Unknown edition of their yo-yo. But for the most part by growing relationships with the various companies and being friends with the owners it’s pretty easy to talk back and forth and share ideas on potential UN collaborations.
I have also been trying to collaborate with smaller companies who are just starting out or aren’t that well known in the yo-yo market yet.
Is there any overlap between your professional design work and yoyoing as a hobby? As in do you find design inspiration from tricks you’ve created, or does your design work influence yoyo tricks you create.
Unknown is a one of kind company that doesn’t produce their own yoyo, but instead brings cool aesthetic to YoYos by collaborating with other companies. How did you think to start Unknown and what inspired it?
I play Kendama / balisong / diabolo and a little bit of cardistry. I find that the more you learn the better you become and the more knowledge you can pull from. I find inspiration for tricks in the other styles of yoyoing as well.
I’m not sure if it’s a 1 to 1 inspiration from design to yoyoing but it does help. If I’m having a tough time trying to come up with a design ill pick up a yoyo and just throw around for a minute and empty my mind. But designing for work and for yoyoing is very different because each comes with its own challenges.
I started Unknown as a fun way to express creative freedom and work on projects with my friends. I knew from the very beginning that I didn’t want to create another yo-yo company because there are so many great companies already that make amazing playing yo-yos. So I saw the opportunity to collaborate with the companies in making limited runs of Unknown designed yo-yos.
Sometimes the manufacture has the name of the yoyo that they want to incorporate or an initial idea but for the most part, we get on a call or chat and toss out various ideas for me to start working on the artwork. But most of the time they just let me handle the artwork with no design input.
My favorite thing about playing 4A is how unexplored it is. I guess the same can be said about yoyoing but most people focus on 1A and don’t explore the other styles.
