Set Your Style

Hidrophoniq appears in 2003 being the first design related online store in venezuela.
In 2007,The Hidrophoniq Store turns itself into Alec Mendez’s solo project and commercial brand, expanding the reach of the products to several countries and collaborating with artists and clothing brands from around the world.
This year Hidrophoniq brand expect to open it first physical store in Venezuela, and offer its products to spain and italy, among other countries in europe.
Hidrophoniq will be part of the new Carrot Clothing (Serbia) collection, sharing his art with designers like Flying Fortress and 123 klan amog others. Also he will be part of the The Crossville Project (Singapore) sharing the line up with artists such Tado, Gaston Caba and Yuck among others.

Alec Méndez
Creator/Art Director Hidrophoniq brand.
www.myspace.com/hidrophoniq

HOW OLD ARE YOU?
27

WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
Surviving and kicking it in Caracas. Venezuela

YOUR FAVOURITE SONG?
Right now ‘We are hi-speed tour mix‘ by Sabrepulse is stocked on my head, followed by a bunch of j-dilla’s classics.

YOUR FAVORITE FASHION BRANDS?
I love those fashion brands that break the established trend and give an special twist to it. Right now i’m enjoying The Hundreds new collection, along with Original Fake, Rockwell clothing and the Venezuelan brand Pow Clothing wich i’m collaborating with. I’m also loving the ‘Yo Gabba Gabba‘ line from Kidrobot.

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FIVE THINGS THAT YOU CURRENTLY LOVE MOST ?
Exploring design on new mediums and materials
Stop motion videos
Travelling and meet new cultures
Street Installations
Live presentations on design fairs

WHERE DO YOU BUY YOUR CLOTHING?
Mostly of my clothing is made by me or are gifts from my fellow clothing designers.

IF I CAME TO CARACAS WHAT SHOULD I ABSOLUTLY HAVE TO SEE?
Caracas is a mid size city surrounded by a system of 9,072 ft green mountains called ‘Cerro El Avila‘ (Avila Hill). One of the must-do activities in the city is get into one of the many cabins of its cable car system and reach the top of this hill, enjoying the city view on one side, and a coast view on the other. Once you get there, you can enjoy a magnificent view of Caracas, a 50’s style hotel (now a museum), an ice skating facility and a lot of gourmet restaurants.

WHO’S YOUR BEST FRIEND?
My multi talented friend Tamara Hadeed a.k.a Hentai www.myspace.com/lahenta

YOUR LAST TRIP?
Buenos Aires, Argentina, it’s an awesome country with a very rich visual culture.

AND THE NEXT ONE?
Probably Barcelona, Spain, i got a bunch a nice friend over there.

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE PLACE TO DRAW ?
Mostly all of my new characters for the collection came up to me in a road trip last month. With no i-pod or magazines, is very easy to get entertained with just a pen and a sketchbook. I often get creative on unsuspected situations like walking down the street or minutes before falling sleep.

WHAT COULD YOU EASLY DO TO HELP THE PLANET?
There is many ways to help the planet, but no many focused on helping the human beings! I’m currently developing with a friend a project on helping the homeless children in Venezuela , wich is a big problem over here. I would love to get more involved in projects that could upgrade the way of living of the needed ones, through the use of the design in a very human way. This project could grow in the next years, maybe through the form of a foundation. I think we as designers can make a difference and help change certain issues of the society.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE/WORK TO FIRST-TIME VIEWERS?
It would be like Hello Kitty dressed on XXL clothes listening to a boombox full of Biggie tunes.

ARE YOU WORKING ON, OR PLANNING, ANYTHING SPECIAL RIGHT NOW?
I’m currently working on the preparation of the first Hidrophoniq Brand store, along with several collaborations with some clothing labels on Europe .There are other super-secret projects coming very soon that will be announced as soon they are confirmed.

Tags: Toys