thank you Chris!
which one is your most favorite throw now?
Thank you for the your supports!
When we produced Obsession +, we focused on sliding on string especially because there was a problem that first prototype of Obsession+ ’s sliding wasn’t good.
What we were particular about Obsession + was sliding on string.
Thank you for the your comment!
I actually quit yoyo after worlds in 2007, and I restarted yoyo when I went to Prague worlds in 2014.
There were a lot of great yoyo at that time, but I couldn’t satisfy with artwork and logo.
Then I taught that I can do it myself ,and I launched.
General people couldn’t distinguish no logo yoyos when lined up, so I’ve been giving a character to each yoyo since I launched mowl.
@mowl @mowlkenta
How does being from japan and a part of the japanese culture affect your process and outcome on yoyo design?
Thank you for the your comment!
It actually depends on time and situation.
In most of situation, I usually talk with yoyo designer, and finishing drawing.
After that , we take a long time to finish artwork
I am currently living in shizuoka japan. Ive been here for about 3 years. And here is something i notice about the different regions. Each region can have its own special “everything”. This region is known for this fruit and this music and this style and specific language dialect. Do you think the region you are in has had special impact or influenced on your design art style??
On the assumption that there are a lot of yoyo companies, but there are very few poor performance yoyo today.
It will be the same as other companies if we make no logo yoyo.
That’s why we are focusing on engraving to give a character to each yoyo that we make.
We also name perfect yoyo , Putting artwork like bringing to life and, show as a work.
At first, making prototype that we’d like to sell, and decide how we can explain as three dimensional object.
I grew up with American street fashion from 20years ago.
I used to work in the street fashion industry, so I’m sometimes inspired by that.
I decided that using owl as brands logo at first because I generally like owls since I was a kid, and there was no yoyo brands that use animal as company’s logo.
I actually tried to use M as brand’s name because Owl means M in hieroglyph in Egypt, but we anticipated that SEO and a single letter “M”would cause many inconvenience, so we added “OWL” after “M “.
There are so many stories behind the development of each yo-yo that it is difficult to tell them all in one.
Regarding Hybrid, Japanese members Kenta and Daiki came to Osaka last summer to visit us.
6/6 marked the 5th anniversary of mowl, and we started development to create a yo-yo that noone had ever seen before as a stepping stone for the next 10 years anniversary.
During the meeting, we came up with a lot of ideas, and I jokingly said that it would be great if we could make the strongest plastic yo-yo with a PC Body and POM rims! This was the beginning of the development process of Hybrid.
We have the best yo-yo designer in the world who can make our crazy ideas come true.
We’re so sorry for not finding the music of HPF.
We can’t remember which one was it, but it should be here https://artlist.io/ .
Most of our videos were created by Masaya Kato who is Japanese movie creator living in Berlin, Germany.
Please take a look at the YouTube playlist of Masaya’s yo-yo clip videos. Please take a look at it and let us know which one is your favorite!
Masaya’s Play list: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZW_9ScevHI&list=PLa5E5aOoD9bKg4F9-DHC4wYeK89d_Lqx3
I was priviledged to play an first run Surveillane side by side with a newer run Surveillance at yoyo club.
I noticed a difference between the two, what design changes were made between the different runs?
(Both played wonderfully).
There are five yoyo brands in North America that we’d like to collaborate with .There are also few brand that we’re too small to work with.
So Wish us luck hahahaha.
I’m inspired by everything surrounding me, such as , street wear, advertisement, and graphic art.
Every inspiration makes our idea Interesting.
Our goal is to create the coolest yoyo that no one has ever seen.
We’re thinking how we can do that even now .
At very first, I asked Jun “Hibari” Mikami who has done artwork for many yoyo brands to make the logo of mowl and M.
he taught me the basic of designing.
Currently, we have asked KALON, who handles most of mowl’s artwork, to create artwork for us. I am also assisted by 3-4 other talented freelance designers who help me with the artwork.
We have never employed artwork that has already been created.
(1) You guys have some of the coolest and most detailed engravings in Yoyo design !!!. What was mowl’s reason to make all of your throws engravings so detailed and precise.
(2) What was your favorite mowl Yoyo to design and what does it mean to you personally.
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Outside of yoyo what are some other hobbys you have?
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What is your favorite season of the year: spring, summer, fall or winter?
Definitely the obsession + then I would say the m+ .
Great yoyos all around though .
I stopped yoyoing around 2012 and gotten back to yoyo recently. Back then mono metal was considered premium and since bi-metal is now considered top tier. @mowlkenta What made you want a signature mono metal and not a bi-metal. Knowing that you wanted to break the trends, I was wondering what was your thought process when deciding to go with a mono metal signature.
Also would be cool to see a raw metal version with engravings.
Thank you!
This got a little verbose so I apologize, I’ve bolder my questions to make them easier to see.
I love how your engravings are intricate yet not garish; it’s a fine line to walk! The Recess collaboration you all did with the Mr. Owl inspired engraving is one of my favorites, next to the High Wall’s trippy concentric circles.
While the throw pictured (Q) below is not an example of your engravings, it is one of my favorites for how understated it is. It’s a great example of a modern organic throw and gives the A-RT Grail a run for its money!
The MRL series is one of the coolest ideas, especially when I realized the shells were interchangeable. Were there any throws that inspired the idea behind this series? The Core Co Standard immediately comes to mind. Have you all had any issues or interesting challenges when creating new shells for it? I know Randy from CoreCo had a lot of problems creating new shells for the Standard which is why none have seen release.
The Surveil was also my first Mowl; when I was getting back into yoyoing a few years ago I saw it on YYE and was drawn to it by the engravings as well as it being a plastic-stainless hybrid design. The old YoYoJam hybrids were great performers, but I was blown away with just how good the Surveil is. Were there any particular challenges when creating it? The old YYJs were notorious for cracking in their hubs, did you all do anything in particular with the Surveil’s design to address that?
Lastly, what are each of you all’s favorite Mowl and non-Mowl yo-yos?
Thank you for taking the time to read this!
Oh I just thought of some more
You all sponsor two of the greatest throwers in the USA: Eric Tranton and the legendary Hank Freeman. Typically it seems Japanese yo-yo brands tend to stick with sponsoring Japanese players, of which there is no dearth of amazing options! Did anything aside from their amazing skills draw you to Eric and Hank? And do you have any particularly favorite videos by either of the two?
What’s your favorite advice to give to people new to yo-yoing?