Postcards. Ticket stubs. Wine corks. Face it, we all like to collect something. We probably have it neatly organized or in a pile somewhere, maybe neglected and forgotten.

As a designer, I personally like to collect different types of modern pop art, vinyl toys, and sneakers. Will they be worth something one day? I doubt it. But that isn’t why I throw my money away, sometimes on impulse purchases.

For some, it may be the bittersweet memories something holds, such as letters from friends or a beloved video game character. For others, it may be the challenge of attaining a rare product with hopes of reselling it for a profit in the future, such as baseball cards or retro cameras.

For me, it boils down to one thing: art and the talented artists that create them.

How It Started

Besides surrounding myself with LEGOs, I never had an obsession or desire to collect anything growing up. My curiosity wasn’t sparked until a friend introduced me to Kidrobot’s Dunnys in college. These little, three-inch vinyl figures intrigued me with their beautiful and unique designs created by artists from around the globe.

Names like Huck Gee, The Beast Brothers, Sket-One, and Aya Kakeyda were all foreign to me at the time.

But there is a small catch when purchasing these little vinyl toys: you never know what you are going to get. Each one is individually packaged and boxed with no indication of what you are going to get, otherwise known as a blind box. To some, this is aggravating and possibly a waste of money. To me, it is always an exciting experience to open a new box with no knowledge of what may be inside. Similar to a child opening his or her first gift on Christmas morning.

The idea of blind boxes mixed with the ability to collect these tiny works of art for a decent price fueled my fire to collect Dunnys. I began to frequent forums and I would also search for sites with the newest content. I slowly began buying more and more, in hopes of getting lucky and snagging a rare one. But as I bought more and more, I noticed my collection started to get scattered — I would have two or three random ones from any particular set without ever completing an entire series.

I felt that was a problem I needed to solve.

With almost everything I do, I challenge myself to reach a goal and follow through until I do. With that in mind, I created a new challenge for myself: Collect and complete one series, no matter what.