About two years ago, Andrew and Johnny (of Blackwater Toys) were going to lunch everyday in the park. And through those lunches came the idea of Kuggs.
We were talking about how the everyday ordinary person is never really given a chance to live life to it's fullest and how only the rich can enjoy it. It was almost like his destiny is already written for him. He was forced to play the hand he was dealt - whether he's is forced to work because he had bills to pay or forced to steal because of he was given no opportunity. We wanted to tell a story about that and thought Urban Vinyl was the perfect medium for us. We always thought it was another form medium where one can express himself there but the cool thing about it was it was in a form of a toy!
From there we laid the groundwork of the story, we knew we wanted to do
something closely based in New York. So we started throwing ideas
around on how he would look like. Living in NY, it's crowded. When
you're going to work on a crowded subway or walking down a crowded
street, everyone sort of becomes faceless to you. They almost become
landscape and you're just walking through it. You keep your head down
and go about your merry business - like moving cattle. We wanted that
feeling that no one was special and that no one had a face. So the
paper bag came to mind.
We knew when somebody puts a paper bag over his head it means he's
embarrassed to be seen. We thought that was perfect because high
society never wants to be seen with an uncultured regular joe schmoe so
it's more like they put a bag on his head because they are embarrassed
to be seen with them. But we also thought the paper bag on the head
also symbolizes (As you will know later in everything we do - it has
some back meaning to it) that he can be anyone. Then we thought if the
paper bag is his head and everyone is like that, then he can be no one.
We played with the shape of the head, we wanted the head to look like a
bag but also a cog or a gear (The Kuggs are "parts" of a "machine"
that fuels the rich). That is also how the name came about - Kuggs.
Below is the meaning.
cog - Pronunciation (kôg) n.
1 - One of a series of teeth, as on the rim of a wheel or gear, whose
engagement transmits successive motive force to a corresponding wheel
or gear.
2 - A cogwheel.
3 - A subordinate member of an organization who performs necessary but usually minor or routine functions.
[Middle English cogge, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Swedish kugg, kugge.]
