Nintedo: Fusajiro Yamauchi

I always think about the people that design video games and how creative they must be. After long hours of playing my new Donkey Kong game on the Nintendo Wii console, i thought about not just the ones designing this genius game, but the original guy behind the whole Nintendo company, who designed the idea and set the rules for a future of video games.

Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo on September 23, 1889.Yamauchi lived in Kyoto, Japan and had a daughter, Tei Yamauchi (who later married future Nintendo president and Fusajiro Yamauchi's successor, Sekiryo Kaneda). Fusajiro Yamauchi began his business under the name "Nintendo Koppai" in 1889. The company made Japanese playing cards. The cards, known as hanafuda, daitoryo, or president, came in decks of 48. Each card was hand made using bark from mulberry (or mitsu-mata) trees. He sold the cards in two different shops in Japan; one in Kyoto and one in Osaka. Nintendo Koppai soon became a runaway success, forcing Yamauchi to hire additional help so he could produce enough cards to keep up with the demand, which continued to grow. Nintendo continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan and organizes its own contract bridge tournament called the "Nintendo Cup".

Nintendo's first video-gaming industry was securing rights to distribute the Magnavox Odyssey video game console in Japan in 1974. Only in 1977 did Nintendo begin to produce its own hardware, with the Color TV Game home video game consoles. Four versions of these consoles were produced, each including variations of a single game (for example, Color TV Game 6 featured six versions of Light Tennis). n 1975, Nintendo moved into the video arcade game industry with EVR Race, designed by their first game designer, Genyo Takeda, and several more titles followed. Nintendo had some small success with this venture, but the release of Donkey Kong in 1981, designed by Miyamoto, changed Nintendo's fortunes dramatically. The success of the game and many licensing opportunities gave Nintendo a huge boost in profit.

Ever since then, the Nintendo Company has been in great condition. In my opinion, its the most fun gaming company out there. 

Gucci Fassion Design: Guccio Gucci

On my way to school one morning I had the radio up and was listening to a song called "She Got a Friend". As the song came to an end, I stopped by to get some coffee. The lady that served me I noticed had some Gucci glasses on. I thought it was funny because the song I was just listening to, that was now stuck in my head, was by a guy named Gucci Mane. on my way out of the parking lot, I see a truck with a picture of a horse saddle on its side. i knew this must have been a sign, because i remembered the inventor of Gucci products first started off selling saddles...and suddenly knew i had to do my art project about the main guy behind the now so famous brand Gucci, Guccio Gucci de Ference.



Guccio Gucci was born in Florence, France on March 26, 1881. Back then he was just a young business man and a small fashion designer, who grew to become an outstanding craftsmen. In 1906 he founded The House of Gucci, keeping it as a small family owned leather saddlery shop. In the 1920s he began selling leather bags to horsemen. As a young man, he rapidly built a reputation for quality, hiring the best craftsmen he could find to work in his atelier. In 1938, Gucci expanded his business to Rome. Soon his one-man business turned into a family-business, when his sons Aldo, Vasco, Ugo and Rodolfo also joined the company. In 1947, Gucci introduced the Bamboo handle handbag, which is still a company mainstay. During the 1950s, Gucci also developed the trademark striped webbing, which was derived from the saddle girth, and the suede moccasin with a metal horsebit.




After Guccio's death in 1953, Aldo helped lead the company to an international position, opening the company’s first boutique in New York. Rodolfo initially tried to start an acting career but soon returned to help direct the company. Even in Gucci’s rise over the years, the family was known for its ferocious infighting. Disputes regarding inheritances, stock holdings, and day-to-day operations of the stores often divided the family and led to alliances. Gucci expanded overseas, board meetings about the company’s future often ended with tempers flaring and luggage and purses flying. Gucci expanded to the in the 60's, and by then had developed their famous GG logo (Guccio Gucci's initials).

Gucci generated around €2.2 billion, which is a huge $2.9 billion, worldwide of revenue in 2008 according to BusinessWeek magazine.Gucci is also the biggest-selling Italian brand. Gucci operates about 278 directly operated stores worldwide (as of September 2009) and it wholesales its products through franchisees and upscale department stores. It is currently partnered up with UNICEF (since 2005) and is still growing, becoming better and better.



The End

Fallen Skate Shoes: Jamie Thomas

Fallen skate shoes are my personal favorite skate shoes out there. I started skating with Adio skate shoes, which are also amazing, but in 2004 a professional skater named Jamie Thomas came up with a brand new skate shoe that implicated fashion, comfort, quality, within a common simplicity. The Fallen:

In the skate world, Thomas was referred to as "The Chief". He was born on October 11, 1974 and started skating at the age of 11.He was first sponsored in 1992 by Deluxe (Thunder trucks, Spitfire wheels and as a flow rider for Real Skateboards). This motivated him to move to San Francisco with his friends Sean Young and Hurley. While living in San Francisco, Thomas turned pro for a short-lived company, Experience Skateboards. Thomas then went on to ride pro for Invisible Skateboards in Sad Diego. After relocating to Southern California in 1994, Thomas was featured on the cover of Transworld Skateboard magazine and had video parts in the Spitfire and Invisible videos. In 1995 Thomas joined Ed Templeton's Toy Machine. He filmed and directed two Toy Machine videos, the second one being Welcome To Hell. His section in "Welcome To Hell" is probably the biggest milestone of his career. He then went on to become the producer of the zero films. He was so into his career that he almost took part in a partnership with DC shoe company, another major brand in the industry to set out his own shoe design. However, Quiksilver bought DC and he was unable to complete the project, so instead he committed to his own company called the Black Box Distribution.
"Armee" was the first choice for naming his new skate shoe, but eventually just stuck with Fallen. Their design slogan was "Rise With The Fallen".

Thomas once said "The brand is a symbol of the quality and tradition that my footwear products have always stood for, Fallen Footwear is designed purely for skate boarding". Today you can only find the Fallen skate shoes in a few select shops for skates and stores. Despite this however the creative style teamed with the amazing function and capabilities makes it so that these skate shoes are still the highest choice for the skaters of our world. 

PEACe