Every Universe Has a Beginning
Why I Created DFI Founding Season
There are moments in a creative journey when you realise you are no longer simply making the next piece.
You are building something bigger.
For me, DFI Founding Season is one of those moments.
For more than 20 years, I have worked in design and creative work. During that time, I have drawn, designed, changed directions, made mistakes, thrown ideas away and started again more times than I could count.
Dave Fuse Imaginarium grew out of that same process.
It started with characters and ideas I wanted to bring into the world. Slowly, those ideas became illustrations, T-shirts, art toys and physical objects that could leave my studio and become part of somebody else's life.
Characters like Meowdusa began developing their own identities. New characters appeared. Different stories started connecting.
Somewhere along the way, DFI stopped feeling like a collection of things I had designed.
It started feeling like a universe.
And now I believe that universe is ready for its next chapter.
Why Founding Season Exists
Something has changed as DFI has grown.
People don't simply buy something and disappear.
Collectors return.
They come back to our booths at different events. They ask what I am working on next. They follow the development of particular characters. Some have collected several versions of the same character over time.
I started remembering names, conversations and the pieces people owned.
That relationship made me think about how DFI could grow differently.
Usually, people only see the end of an artist's process.
The finished artwork.
The final colourway.
The completed toy.
The product photograph.
But behind every finished piece are decisions nobody sees.
Ideas that didn't work.
Colours that were rejected.
Changes in shape or proportion.
Sketches that never left the studio.
Sometimes even an entire direction that gets abandoned.
I began wondering: What if collectors could come a little closer to that part of the journey?
Not to control what I create, but to experience more of how the universe develops.
That idea became Founding Season.
What Is DFI Founding Season?
From 16 September to 16 October 2026, Dave Fuse Imaginarium is opening Founding Season to collectors and art lovers around the world.
There are different ways to participate, from the Dave Edition and Dave Collector to the more personal Dave Signature experience.
Depending on the edition, Founding Season includes limited physical works, wearable art, art toys, signed pieces and access to different parts of the creative journey.
But I don't want Founding Season to be remembered simply as a collection of packages.
The physical pieces matter, of course.
But what matters just as much is when they came from.
They belong to a particular moment in the history of DFI.
The moment when this small independent universe was beginning to grow into something larger.
Being Here While It Is Still Being Built
One of the ideas behind Founding Season is allowing collectors to see more of what happens before a work is released publicly.
There will be behind-the-scenes updates.
Early looks at selected projects.
Opportunities to vote on certain decisions, such as colourways.
And over time, Founding Season members will be able to see some of those early ideas become finished pieces.
To me, that creates a very different relationship with an artwork.
You don't only remember buying it.
You remember seeing part of its journey.
Perhaps you saw the prototype.
Perhaps you voted on the colour.
Perhaps you saw an early sketch months before the final piece existed.
And eventually you can look at something on your shelf and think: “I remember when this was still becoming what it is.”
The First Circle
Collectors who join during Founding Season also become part of something I call The First Circle.
It is simply a way of recognising the people who were here during this chapter.
I don't know exactly what DFI will look like five or ten years from now.
There may be characters that don't exist yet.
There may be exhibitions, collaborations and projects I haven't even imagined.
But if this universe continues to grow, I want there to be a record of the people who supported it while so much of it was still being built.
Not because they were simply customers.
Because they were present.
The Beginning of the Next Chapter
Founding Season isn't the beginning of Dave Fuse Imaginarium itself.
There are already years of work, characters, collectors and memories behind us.
It is the beginning of what comes next.
And perhaps years from now, when we look back at everything that happened afterwards, this month will feel very small.
That's okay.
Beginnings often do.
If DFI has meant something to you, you are welcome to be part of this one.
DFI Founding Season 16 September – 16 October 2026
Open worldwide
With gratitude,
Dave Liew
Founder & Artist, Dave Fuse Imaginarium
Comments