„I am totally confused about your appearance“,
is my astonished exclamation when I arrive at her home where she invited me to.
„Isn’t your store all about gothic and black and darkish stuff?“ The Plastik owner and creator Vae
(aikea.rieko) laughs and leads me to a table to take a seat. I won’t sit down
for a while because I am way too busy to discover zealously all the cute
details I can find on that table: fancy cakes, cupcakes, buttercakes, pancakes,
brownies, pies, tarts, flans, puddings, pumpkin bread, sweeties and candies,
icecream, tea, coffee, hot chocolate with a cream topping, ornamental plants
and: a laptop!
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| The entrance at The Plastik mainstore welcomes you with a cosy atmosphere |
„If this was my workspace, I would never leave“, is what I
state before I finally sit down. Once again, I eye up Vae who looks like an angel
with horns to me. „I buy everything in white!“, she explains and points at the
table with a grin: „This is my random collection of sweets. I’ve been building
into it for at least two years.“ I shake my head because I just can’t believe
what I see. It is amazing! Vae shakes her head a bit, too, and adds: „I can’t help
it. I’m really picky but when I find one I like, I go nuts! Well, I’m obsessed
with them.“ Obviously! But I could stay here forever.
„I wouldn’t have expected all that. You look white and
innocent but I connect ‚gothic‘ and ‚black‘ with your label.“ Though I had a
little idea already before that Vae is not only into ‚dark stuff‘ when I saw
that she just joined Shiny Shabby for her first participation. And Shiny Shabby
is well-known for a more pastel-colored style. „A lot of people do, but I think
that's mainly because I use the dark woods, and the rustic elements and the
dark themes for my store because I find them to be really gorgeous. I'm trying
to ligthen up a lot lately because I don't just make dark stuff. Although it is
my favorite thing, I want people to be able to see that I'm not just all about
the dark and the witchy and the creepy“, Vae explains with a wink.
„I started with Second Life back in 2006 but I remember The
Plastik being on the grid like forever. When did you actually start?“, I ask for
some details. „I think Plastik, with the current name, probably started
somewhere around 2006 or 2007. I'd had a few smaller stores on different
accounts before then, all the way back to 2004.“ A quick calculation shows me that
The Plastik exists already for almost 10 years! That is a considerably long
time, especially in a virtual environment. „What motivates you to continue? I
could imagine that after all those years, you sometimes go through phases when
you just want to break off with designing?“ Talking about breaks, all out of a
sudden, someone breaks in and lands on Vae’s head after teleport!
„And that’s my manager on my head!“, Vae cheers, „Sorchiee!“
Sorchiee? Yes, that Sorchiee whom I have met for the first time during my
interview with Enchantment: Second Life is a village! „I take breaks once in a while,
and most of the time it's not by choice. I've got a diminished immune system so
I get sick fairly easily, which requires me, every month or so, to take a few
days off to recharge. I always tell people that the day I stop really loving
and enjoying the work I do, I will start the process of finding something else.
But I really do love having this as a job. I'm always excited to work on new
things, and I still get giddy when I'm working on something I'm really looking
forward to. And I still find the time every day to take little breaks: I go on
Tumblr, I take stretch breaks, I'll play a little bit of Diablo 3. I'm getting
a lot better at balancing my time!“
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| Your path into the mainstore is enlighted by hundreds of little star shells |
I connect with Plastik also very detailed jewelry and want
to know how she acquired her skills. „Well, before the mesh capabilities came
out, I was already familiar with the formats, the layouts, and the way mesh
handles. I've been an avid modder of the Elder Scrolls community since
2003-2004, probably before, which has amazing games like Oblivion, Morrowind,
and Skyrim. I've always been really into modding games and looking at the inner
workings of their design. So it was really easy for me to transition.“ Before mesh
came to Second Life, people were working with sculpties. What is her opinion
about sculpties? „I'll admit, sculpties were such a mess. I dont think anyone
really enjoyed working on them, they were just so limiting. There are always
upsides to them, too. But when it comes to creating, I think mesh really
re-invigorated how i do my work, in the same way that mesh bodies being
introduced reinvigorated my love for system layer work, which was what a very
large percentage of my really early work was all about.“
Layers, I wonder? When mesh hit the grid, I saw a lot people
going crazy and stating that they would never ever wear layers again. „Do you
think layers could become as important as mesh clothes again, Vae?“ -- „I love
the layers. I always said that we needed more and more layers! I think its
important when you do clothing that's got appliers for mesh parts, not to leave
out the system layers and all possible mesh layers. I always try to offer every
possible way to wear items so that people who cannot afford, or prefer to just
wear their normal default avatar, or want to layer, have the option, too. I
dont like anyone feeling left out. For mesh bodies and layers, though, i
definitely think there should be more. Layering has always been a really
popular thing, and I think that they‘ll always be relevant. I don‘t really know
about the importance, because I know how much everyone adores their mesh parts,
but I still use both constantly!“
Since we were just talking about variation of offers, I am
curious if she has restricted herself to any limits what she wants to design. Maybe
she would never create bicycles? „You know, I think about that often! I've
considered getting into furniture and decor, and stuff like that, but I rarely
ever find the time. I think the only thing I won't really get into are vehicles
and cars, I know how much work goes into every single one and I don't think I'd
be able to dedicate that much time. I admire the people who do, though!“ Vae
creates many skins, a collection of nail appliers, a plenty of clothes and numerous
accessoires, and I see her offering her creations more and more often with a
broad HUD for color options.
It must be a lot of work. But designing is only one part of
a business. A store owner has to keep many other criterias in mind: to watch
the market, to promote new releases, to establish in events, to produce within
deadlines and so much more: „Where do you get all your inspiration from to be
up to date and bring always something new?“ Vae is participating in a lot of
popular and well-known events, so I assume that she has a very tight schedule. „Well,
a lot of that I credit to my manager Sorchiee! We spend a lot of time together
getting ideas together, brainstorming, and she kicks my ass to make sure I am
always on time. She's also been the one who's been helping me market my style
and focus more on the things I needed to do to really get my stuff out there
and noticed. I've got this dropbox folder of inspiration as well as several
sketchbooks of things I've wanted to do since I was a teenager. And so I go
through and I look at it all for inspiration when the event has a theme.“
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| Behind the bridge is a huge meadow with mystical trees |
Time flies! Again, one hour is almost over. „Is there
anything teasing you’d like to share with us? For example what you plan to come
up with next?“ -- „Well, I‘ve got a few really amazing corsets coming out as
well as a dress that's gonna blow people's minds! I'm working on some body
parts as well that are going to be really awesome for fantasy buffs, and
several new skin lines. My workload is huge, but I am hoping that everyone will
find something they love in the coming months! Plus, halloween is coming, and
all of my customers and people who know me know it's my favorite time of the
year, and I go all out!“
That sounds indeed teasing! I am looking forward to that in
excitement but now, I finally screw up my courage and hope that I wouldn’t sting
into a wasp‘s nest. Because there is one last question left for which I have
waited more than one hour. Actually, the only reason to request an interview
was to get an answer to this matter. -- Okay, just kidding! But I still have to
ask: „Before I came over, I read something in your profile which won’t let me
sleep if I continue to brood over it. What the heck is the ‚Leafy-Peepybirds
animation‘? English is not my native language, so some things sound really
weird to me. I have no idea what it is, but to me, it sounds like a bird on
acid… ?“
I should have known better! Of course, I made her laugh at
me with my crazy interpretation but she helps me out with an explanation: „An
old friend of mine, a long time ago, a long long time ago, made me this really
cute animation which was used in my boxed products that played when you
attached it. In one box, I had accidentally put the animation in full perm. And
even though i fixed it a few days later, a few people had decided to use it for
their stores as well. This animation was made especially for me, it is
sentimental to me. So whenever I see someone using it, I ask them to please stop
because it was special to me.“ To let me see it, she hands out a cute little
rabbit to me which contains the said animation. Click! And here’s the snapshot
of us two:
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Vae surprises me with an all white appearance and a workspace table full of candies!
- see credits below - |
Last but not least, I have a bit more to reveal for you,
dear readers. First: the store will be undergoing a rebuild somewhen in the
near future. If you have seen Vae‘s previous store builds than you will already
know that it will be a great one. I promise you, I will take snapshots of it as
soon as I may get access to the location once it’s done! And second: at Shiny
Shabby, The Plastik has shown the lighter side of this brand to a bigger public.
So we may look forward to jaw-dropping creations for casual and mainstream
fashion as well in future! By the way: The Plastik is currently looking for
participation in casual events, so don’t be shy and contact Vae if you’d like
to collaborate with her for your event.
A big thank you to Vae (aikea.rieko) for taking her time,
for showing her lovely work space and for giving us the chance to get to know
her with interesting anecdotes and from a very personal side.
HAIR: Tableau Vivant Barley
