Decoden - Phone Customisation
From Mod Mania
Decoden – Phone Customisation
The Modding community researched and observed is the Decoden community. This is a community involves the intricate customisation of mobile phones and other gadgets using small crystals and charms. This community is based in Japan however this activity has reached some popularity outside of Japan in recent years which has lead to the creation of online communities dedicated to this art form. Many of the participants of Decoden outside of Japan have interests in other areas of Japanese pop culture such as Anime and Japanese street fashion, popularised by “Gwen Stefani”. Decoden has been blogged about by many famous bloggers such as Wendy Cheng under the alias of Xia Xue, a celebrity blogger from Singapore who decorates her phones in this way, LaCarmina a gothic Lolita blogger and author as well as Danny Choo a blogger who lives in and writes about Japan, he is famous for his videos on YouTube of him dressed as a storm trooper around Tokyo.
The decoration and customization of mobile phones is popular among younger teens today, premade cases for popular phones such as the Iphone are available in hundreds of designs can be found almost anywhere. Premade cases come in various styles, some are painted with various paints ranging from more matte to more metallic appearances and some more recent styles involve small rhinestones or Swarovski crystals arranged in a variety of patterns and designs glued on to the back of the phone. The use of Rhinestones to decorate mobile phones originates from Japan, the term to describe this practice is known as “Decoden” which is a combination of the words “Decoration” and “Denwa” the Japanese word for phone. Other objects such as characters from anime or other iconic Japanese characters such as hello kitty (featured in the image above) are incorporated into a Decoden design. Small objects made from air drying clay are sometimes used in combination with rhinestones and also pearls, these usually come in theme based kits or can be handmade with little difficulty. Popular themes are mainly food, character or music based however darker themes have been seen around the internet such as “the nightmare before Christmas” or other more gothic characters or styles, usually fitting in with the Lolita subculture in Japan. Over the years Decoden has been used for other objects as well as phones, things such as the “Nintendo DS”, “IPods” and even Alarm clocks have been customised in this way. This technique is a lot more accomplishable in Japan as Japanese phones are mostly flip phones and have a lot more of a flat surface allowing more space to decorate with.
Decoden is more popular among the younger teens in Japan. Originally a majority of the population who decorated their phones in this way were female however as this practice is coming into more mainstream society males have started to customise their phones similarly, as a result the more darker or more “Boyish” themes have come around to accommodate to the male population. Characters such “badtzmaru” and “Mickey mouse” as well as other anime and comic book heroes are popular among males. The males into Decoden are usually those who follow the Visual kei subculture, a subculture based around music which can be seen around the Harajuku district made famous in western society by “Gwen Stefani”. Majority of the females in Japan have or have had Decoden phones, “girly” themes are much more available in Japan and girls from all different subcultures ranging from the Lolita subculture to just plain ordinary girls have been involved. There are many active groups participating in Decoden, many of which are online based. Live journal is the most popular place for the discussion of Decoden as the most largest group outside of Japan is located there (http://community.livejournal.com/deco_den/). There is also a Flickr group (http://www.flickr.com/groups/948956@N24/) and a Facebook group which is linked to the livejournal, the people involved in these communities are usually those who already have some interest in Japanese culture such as anime, music, or fashion and they’re interest in these groups have lead to the discovery of Decoden, the age grouping is usually from 15 – 30.
Many online shops such as http://www.strapya-world.com/ cater for people interested in decoing their phones. Products such as rhinestones, pearls and mini charms can be bought as well as tubes of silicon like substances which is pushed out through a pastry bag to create whipped cream or strings of chocolate. Among the online communities of Decoden a lot of people write tutorials giving advice on how to create similar styled objects at home as online shopping can be risky and expensive. People who are new to this community are encouraged to write a small profile and post it on the main wall the questions are based around where they discovered Decoden and why they like it, the style they wish to achieve and if possible give a picture of something they have deco’d. People also ask questions asking for tips on where to get cheaper materials, what materials work better, different types of glues etc... People are also showing off their work online allowing people to critique their work. People are very encouraging and helpful and it is possible that you can buy a commissioned case from more experience members if you don’t know where to start or don’t have the time to make something, this provides a lot of opportunities for the more experienced in this area as they can earn up to a 100 dollars depending on their clients need, the product or the theme chosen. Sometimes there is conflict within members especially when someone is newbie or a “n00b” who don’t have as much experience in Decoden starts off on not a good start, this is also common in other web based communities. The use of the word n00b comes from the gamer language and a lot of Decoden artists have interests in videogames, so the language used around these communities are a mix of Gamer and more formal English.
Although this community is only just starting in the west, it is growing rapidly and its popularity is increasing and with the internet it allows people from around the world to communicate and show off their designs.
