Looking back at the Tokidoki Darth Vader Helmet
The dark side never looked cooler! At Star Wars Celebration IV in 2007, Simone Legno from Tokidoki designed a Darth Vader helmet for The Vader Project.
Who knew you could take something as epic as Star Wars and turn it into art? That was what Italian artist Simone Legno of Tokidoki did with the iconic Darth Vader helmet for The Vader Project.
For the unfamiliar tokidoki, “which translates to “sometimes” in Japanese, is an internationally recognized and iconic lifestyle brand based on the vision of Italian artist Simone Legno and his partners, serial entrepreneurs Pooneh Mohajer and Ivan Arnold.”
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You may have seen some of their characters including the unicorno, mermicorno and donutella. Often times tokidoki will collaborate with other culturally popular characters and organizations such as Hello Kitty, Overwatch and the MLB.
Now what was The Vader Project?
"“The Vader Project is a reimagining of the iconic Darth Vader helmet curated by Dov Kelemer and Sarah Jo Marks of DKE Toys (dketoys.com). Kelemer and Marks gathered close to 100 of the hottest underground and pop surrealist painters, artists, and designers to participate. For this unique project each artist was given a 1:1 scale authentic prop replica of the actual Darth Vader helmet used in the STAR WARS™ films. The helmets served as a blank canvas for each artist to paint, design, mash up, and customize.”"
The Vader Project exhibitions began in 2007. The helmets were on display from May 24-28 at Star Wars Celebration IV at the Los Angeles Convention Center before they went for auction on July 10, 2010 at the Freeman’s Auction House in Philadelphia.
Simone’s design for the Darth Vader helmet is eye-catching and colorful. Painting the helmet in camouflage colors enhanced the story being told. Several tokidoki characters decorate the top, with two in the midst of a lightsaber battle!
The mask is painted silver, with diagonal hot pink thick stripes to match the underside of the helmet. Just below the mouth is the tokidoki logo and a character holding a lightsaber above the artist’s signature.
While this event happened years ago I am thoroughly impressed with the design and would truly love to see more Star Wars-inspired work at Tokidoki. It would be interesting to see how the characters would fit into that world.
The beautiful thing about this event is the fact that every Darth Vader helmet looks so artistically unique. You can see all of the hard work every artist put into it. It’s wonderful to see how Star Wars inspires creators and artists to make something new and different.
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Would you like to see a Tokidoki x Star Wars cross over? Leave your answer in the comment section below! I’d love to read it!