
Mark James came out swinging with his debut, an urban vinyl take on the stereotypical football hooligan. This design transcended the vinyl scene, finding attention - or more accurately, condemnation - in the press for the violent depiction. His follow-up, though, is what really put him on the map. CardBoy is part vinyl and part cardboard, a sort of papercraft ahead of its time. The packaging of the toy would fold apart, revealing the body and legs of the figure. The collector would then re-fold the packaging to form the head. The first CardBoy series featured shipping container themes, while the second series took the shape of sneaker boxes, riffing off of adidas and Nike designs. Exhibited by MOMA, the third and final CardBoy series was inspired by printer ink cartridges, coming in cyan, magenta, yellow, and key / black colorways.
While these unique designs are about a decade old, that doesn't mean you can't add them to your collection. A scan of eBay shows a few going for under $15 and the full set of the cartridge series is still available directly from Mark for 30GBP. A production piece from Mark hasn't been released since his 2012 Dalston Fried Chicken, but we're hoping we haven't seen the last of him. Come back, Mark!
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