Remember when we collectively freaked out over the IKEA cosplay storage video? Guess what popped up in my inbox? An email from Frank Koh — the IKEA cosplay guy himself! He was nice enough to include a bunch of photos, so for those of you who (like me) wanted to see more details on the storage solutions, here we go…
A very good day to you! I happened to chance across your article (the one on the Ikea Cosplay commercial) on Offbeat Home while randomly surfing, and thought that I’d drop you a message.
Yup. 🙂 I am the guy featured in the commercial and agree that they should have featured more on the storage solution they provided for me. They did a terrific job. I do not want to bore you with too many words so here are some pictures of my room that I would like to share with you.
This is my bed area with pictures of my girlfriend (in cosplay) and myself.
This is actually my work in progress area when I need to prepare my next cosplay. Lots of contact lenses. My make-up and accessories.
I have two shelves on the same cupboard in the picture above for my wigs. I have about 30+ wigs.
At the corner of my room is two full length mirrors. Prior to the revamp of my room, I only got a little mirror behind my wardrobe. One of the mirrors has lights that are really bright. It is the same as those used in the make-up room in the theater. My female friends often joke that this corner of my room does not look like a room of a guy. 😀
These are all my non-armor costumes.
That’s where all my armor goes.
They even have a nice compartment for all my cosplay shoes. Each shelf contain four boxes. Some of the boxes contain two pairs of shoes if they are not boots.
These cupboards located under the bed are where I store all my raw materials for my prop-making. In Asia, it is common for us to use polyurethane foam. In the cupboard behind, you can find Worbla that I got from Europe. I am still experimenting with it as I am using only starting to use them.
Being a typical otaku, I have lots of figurines as well.
Lastly, this is my work desk.
Thanks Frank! That was an awesome storage tour. Anyone have questions for Frank? Perhaps he’ll answer them.
The video link in the previous post doesn’t seem to be working? I don’t remember seeing it before and I have no idea how I missed it!
Frank: Thanks for showing us your room! It looks great. Did this evolve over time or did you come up with a master plan one day? Is there anything you wish you had more room for?
Wow. It’s a long story. It all started from a private message I received on Facebook from the agency who created the ad that they were pitching the idea of revamping a cosplayer’s room because they understood that a cosplayer tend to have a real storage problem. They called me up for an audition and came to my room to see the current state.
It is interesting how they work about it because they had a team of about 8-10 people (designers, architect and guys from Ikea) coming in. All they did was told me what I normally do and where I put my stuff. They observe me going about my room working on my cosplay and my daily life a bit. After that, they just asked me two questions. Do I want a bigger bed? (My previous bed was a single bed) What is my favourite colour? (Purple.)
After that, they booked a hotel for me and send me away for 3 days. The deal was this. I would not know the design of the room and what would happen after 3 days. I would say that those 3 days really kept me wondering about how my room would turn out because effectively I had no control over it. 🙂 The only thing that kept me optimistic was that, “Hey! This is Ikea. How bad can it be?”. 🙂
So I came back after 3 days and they film me again. 🙂
Right now, I can’t say I wish I had more room. In fact, many of my cupboards are still currently empty especially the smaller compartments. I still have more room for many things! I am also clearing most of my older stuff out anyway. 🙂
When I read this the first time, I thought this was a post about a guy who cosplays as IKEA furniture or something, and was utterly confused. But now that I’ve figured out what’s actually going on here, this is seriously fantastic! I wish I was half as organized as this
Well… prior to this. I would say my room was in an “organised chaotic” state. Meaning, it looks neatly cluttered with many things all over the place where only I myself could locate. 🙂
Are you a cosplayer too? You can check out some of my cosplay at my Facebook page.
I would say I try to do all sorts of cosplay. From mechas, armor suits to the normal cloth cosplays. 🙂
This post is well timed as it’s exactly a month before the Montreal Otakuthon. And as usual, I’m wondering if I should/could get into cosplaying a little (and realize it’s obviously too late to make myself a costume for this year…again). Well at least now I have a few ideas on how I would go about hiding all the stuff!
Thank you for the pictures, Frank! I see you have an RCC trophy in the figurine case. I’d be very curious to know/see what cosplay you entered in that competition 😉
It’s not too late! It was about a month before my first (so far, only) con when I went from “I want to do this” to “I AM doing this.” I bought everything one weekend, and had a good three weeks of being anxious, and two days before of being terrified. But actually, my costume was probably like twenty hours of work, which is totally doable in a month.
Also, this room is amazing, and makes me feel guilty about my helmet and hammer just laying around my bedroom
Oh! Montreal Otakuthon! Yes! I heard about that con! It is the con with the first selection for the representative of Canada for the World Cosplay Summit 2015? I hope I am right on this one. 😀
RCC stands for Regional Cosplay Competition. It is an annual competition held at the Anime Festival Asia in Singapore with most of the countries from Southeast Asia taking part (i.e. Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines). The performance can be found on YouTube titled “AFA Regional Cosplay Championship 2012 – Singapore”. I cosplayed as Wild Tiger from the animation “Tiger & Bunny”.
I represented Singapore at World Cosplay Summit in 2012 as well where I build a mecha from the animation Sousei no Aquarion (Genesis of Aquarion). The video can be found on YouTube as well titled “WCS 2012 Championship – Team Singapore”
Hi Frank!
Yes, the winners of the competition at Otakuthon this year will be representing Canada in Japan as observers for the 2015 competition. People were already lining up hours in advance for the mascarade before, can’t imagine how intense it’s going to be this year!
I’ll be looking up your videos for sure.
@Mints : One month is cutting it close for me, especially since all my week-ends leading to the event are already booked. July/August are pretty busy months for otakus here 😉 It’s the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal right now (also a great event for fans of Asian culture). I’ll be seeing a dozen movies this year. It’s a slow year for me, but I do have a wedding to attend 600 km away next week-end. It kind of cuts into the festival time, you know 😉
No matter, I’ll try and plan ahead for a costume next year (again!). Just seeing all the wonderful cosplayers attending is already a lot of fun. And it IS easier to move through the crowded artists’ alley without the costume (and/or giant foam weapon).
This is absolutely incredible, but I do find myself wondering where he keeps all his non-cosplay clothes! I’m also waaay drooling over that desk station, wow!
I saw the original video for this and let me tell you, the amount of storage that they managed to squeeze into this room. Wow, it really packs a punch man! It’s amazing to think that they managed to fit ALL those costumes in there and leave room for more! Hell, this guy could probably open a costume shop of his own with the amount of get-ups that he’s got stored in his room! And the vanity mirror is a nice touch too! Haha!
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My type-A self is drooling.
The video link in the previous post doesn’t seem to be working? I don’t remember seeing it before and I have no idea how I missed it!
Frank: Thanks for showing us your room! It looks great. Did this evolve over time or did you come up with a master plan one day? Is there anything you wish you had more room for?
Weird! The video is working just fine when I just checked. Maybe clear your cache and see what happens?
Hi Elle!
Wow. It’s a long story. It all started from a private message I received on Facebook from the agency who created the ad that they were pitching the idea of revamping a cosplayer’s room because they understood that a cosplayer tend to have a real storage problem. They called me up for an audition and came to my room to see the current state.
It is interesting how they work about it because they had a team of about 8-10 people (designers, architect and guys from Ikea) coming in. All they did was told me what I normally do and where I put my stuff. They observe me going about my room working on my cosplay and my daily life a bit. After that, they just asked me two questions. Do I want a bigger bed? (My previous bed was a single bed) What is my favourite colour? (Purple.)
After that, they booked a hotel for me and send me away for 3 days. The deal was this. I would not know the design of the room and what would happen after 3 days. I would say that those 3 days really kept me wondering about how my room would turn out because effectively I had no control over it. 🙂 The only thing that kept me optimistic was that, “Hey! This is Ikea. How bad can it be?”. 🙂
So I came back after 3 days and they film me again. 🙂
Right now, I can’t say I wish I had more room. In fact, many of my cupboards are still currently empty especially the smaller compartments. I still have more room for many things! I am also clearing most of my older stuff out anyway. 🙂
When I read this the first time, I thought this was a post about a guy who cosplays as IKEA furniture or something, and was utterly confused. But now that I’ve figured out what’s actually going on here, this is seriously fantastic! I wish I was half as organized as this
Hi Kathleen!
Well… prior to this. I would say my room was in an “organised chaotic” state. Meaning, it looks neatly cluttered with many things all over the place where only I myself could locate. 🙂
Oooohhh I love the shoe boxes! I think I need to make a trip to Ikea.
Would LOVE getting to see some pictures of Frank in some of his costume collection!
Hi Aimee!
Are you a cosplayer too? You can check out some of my cosplay at my Facebook page.
I would say I try to do all sorts of cosplay. From mechas, armor suits to the normal cloth cosplays. 🙂
Adding mirror lights to my Sewing Room Reorg project list! Love this, thanks for sharing more details 🙂
This post is well timed as it’s exactly a month before the Montreal Otakuthon. And as usual, I’m wondering if I should/could get into cosplaying a little (and realize it’s obviously too late to make myself a costume for this year…again). Well at least now I have a few ideas on how I would go about hiding all the stuff!
Thank you for the pictures, Frank! I see you have an RCC trophy in the figurine case. I’d be very curious to know/see what cosplay you entered in that competition 😉
It’s not too late! It was about a month before my first (so far, only) con when I went from “I want to do this” to “I AM doing this.” I bought everything one weekend, and had a good three weeks of being anxious, and two days before of being terrified. But actually, my costume was probably like twenty hours of work, which is totally doable in a month.
Also, this room is amazing, and makes me feel guilty about my helmet and hammer just laying around my bedroom
Hi Aldebrana!
Oh! Montreal Otakuthon! Yes! I heard about that con! It is the con with the first selection for the representative of Canada for the World Cosplay Summit 2015? I hope I am right on this one. 😀
RCC stands for Regional Cosplay Competition. It is an annual competition held at the Anime Festival Asia in Singapore with most of the countries from Southeast Asia taking part (i.e. Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines). The performance can be found on YouTube titled “AFA Regional Cosplay Championship 2012 – Singapore”. I cosplayed as Wild Tiger from the animation “Tiger & Bunny”.
I represented Singapore at World Cosplay Summit in 2012 as well where I build a mecha from the animation Sousei no Aquarion (Genesis of Aquarion). The video can be found on YouTube as well titled “WCS 2012 Championship – Team Singapore”
Hi Frank!
Yes, the winners of the competition at Otakuthon this year will be representing Canada in Japan as observers for the 2015 competition. People were already lining up hours in advance for the mascarade before, can’t imagine how intense it’s going to be this year!
I’ll be looking up your videos for sure.
@Mints : One month is cutting it close for me, especially since all my week-ends leading to the event are already booked. July/August are pretty busy months for otakus here 😉 It’s the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal right now (also a great event for fans of Asian culture). I’ll be seeing a dozen movies this year. It’s a slow year for me, but I do have a wedding to attend 600 km away next week-end. It kind of cuts into the festival time, you know 😉
No matter, I’ll try and plan ahead for a costume next year (again!). Just seeing all the wonderful cosplayers attending is already a lot of fun. And it IS easier to move through the crowded artists’ alley without the costume (and/or giant foam weapon).
This is absolutely incredible, but I do find myself wondering where he keeps all his non-cosplay clothes! I’m also waaay drooling over that desk station, wow!
I saw the original video for this and let me tell you, the amount of storage that they managed to squeeze into this room. Wow, it really packs a punch man! It’s amazing to think that they managed to fit ALL those costumes in there and leave room for more! Hell, this guy could probably open a costume shop of his own with the amount of get-ups that he’s got stored in his room! And the vanity mirror is a nice touch too! Haha!
The lights around that mirror are fantastic! May I ask how you did that?