WOOJI, The Next UPCOMING Brand in the Anime Community!

Wooji is a So-Cal clothing brand that based their clothing off of experiences and memories portrayed into clothing with an anime flare. At first, Wooji didn’t start off as Wooji. People may have known them by another name, Button Mash Ninja. But why the change?

Before I begin to describe the name change, here is a little story behind Button Mash Ninja that you may or may have not known.

Originally, Edward Woo, the creator of Wooji, named his brand, Button Mash Ninja. It was a brand that would create and sell cute anime and gaming parody shirts, just like the Squirtle Squad shirt above.

The artwork was created by their first designer named Kelsy Shen who went to college with him. These characters that were designed are well-known in the pop culture community. These designs were relatable to the time when they would be popular, but eventually, she landed a job working for Riot Games. However, the timing was perfect because this was around the time that Edward decided to rebrand BMN into what is known today as Wooji.

The idea of Wooji came about when Edward went to Japan in October of last year. It was 6 months into Button Mash Ninja, but at the time, he didn’t feel right using the characters that he didn’t create. He wanted to rebrand, but wasn’t sure what direction to take it in.

While he was traveling through Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo, he decided to pick up photography. As he was learning how to take better shots, he become obsessed with capturing emotion in a still frame. Each place he discovered had a unique story to offer, and he wanted others to understand exactly what he was feeling in that moment as he stood there behind the camera. That was when he realized that he could apply the same storytelling aspect to apparel.

The transition took 6 months in the making (around January) and his clothing was able to launch in July at Anime Expo.

For Wooji, he wanted to have more of a minimalist style, but he didn’t want to give up on illustrations that the community loves. Luckily, he was able to meet Lisa Kogawa, a phenomenal illustrator who graduated from Art Center. What makes Lisa great is that she can take his vision and translate that right into the design. In fact, the finished products ended up becoming better than what he initially imagined. Together they focused a lot more on the story behind each design and how they can tell that story as effectively as possible on a piece of clothing that they could wear themselves.

THE MEANING BEHIND THE PIECES:

I wanted to know what exactly was Edward’s favorite pieces and why he created them. Here were his words:

“If we’re talking about design, then it’s definitely Love Hurts. Love Hurts is a beautiful illustration of the city within a child’s subconscious. Most people are drawn to the design as it reminds them of a futuristic, cyberpunk Tokyo. What they don’t know until later on is that all the signs actually contain sad thoughts like “do you love me?” or “I miss you”. I think growing up in an Asian household with strict parents exposed me to plenty of hurtful memories. It becomes hard to understand what love is at such an age and it’s easy to become consumed by feelings of loneliness and abandonment. This piece is a reminder of those times, but I don’t want people to take away something negative from it. What I want others to recognize is the valuable role those feelings once played in our growth and how we use them to help us decipher what love means to us.”

“Conceptually though, I think my favorite piece has to be Masterpiece. Growing up I always wanted to become an artist, even though I was horrible at singing, dancing, and drawing. On the other hand, math and sciences were a breeze for me, and I hated them. It wasn’t until after college when I started to reconsider what it meant to be an artist. To me, art is one’s expression and representation of the world as they see it. And it should never be based solely on technical skill. Masterpiece is about creating art without giving a shit what other people will think. It’s about shedding away your self-consciousness. It’s about doing what you believe is right and not what others tell you is right.”

The meaning behinds these words truly shows that this brand is more than what meets the eye. The designs help carry the brand as well as tell the story behind his life and what he encountered.