Good morning guys.
I am a figure artist k.a.kim.
Since I haven’t been around for a long time, I’d like to update news I have.
Unfortunately, it would not be a good one which I am not happy at all.
And please do understand that there might be wrong expressions and phrases I use since I am not a native English speaker
It is a story about Molecule 8.
Vijay Chadha is CEO of Molecule 8 and he had asked me to work with him a year and half ago.
In early 2017, he had visited Korea directly to see me and introduced his company, molecule 8.
Vijay's plan to create figures with the utmost level and highest quality in the industry at that time was really delicate and surprising to me.
At that time, he expressed he already has a lot of licenses and It was a convincible point I got into it that I knew it was not that easy – Getting licenses.
He required me to sculpt John Lennon which he expressed the most important project for his business and it was the most gentle way for me to be asked. He also gave me many flexible suggestions and offers.
It was not only kind but also touched when he introduced his business plan which wasn’t gimmicky around, and history of his life where he started this business.
And I thought that if everything goes well, it will be a new era for everyone to see in this industry, then decided to work with him
In retrospect, this was the moment his scam started, I think.
In the contract, the payment method for the cost was not a lump sum payment, but a contract for each character which we called ‘Running Guarantee’ receiving a percentage of the amount sold.
Instead, I asked for a minimum guarantee because I had to secure the amount I originally received, and Vijay crunched the MG numbers based on quantities he set up.
In this manner, I was noted and convinced that he can pay the MG amount after sales are completed.
I had completed John Lennon - version 1 and version 2, in April and May 2017 and made/announced them public.
At that time, the body was not completed, but the company began selling directly to clients without the body.
When I asked about it, I was told that trust him that everything is going well.
And he leveraged my name/portfolio for his marketing purposes without consent but I didn’t have any argument given the fact that Molecule 8 was a start-up, I even helped him a lot voluntarily on SNS.
I did not have any complaints about using me as a publicity even though I was not in that company. When I was asked for helping him in promoting the product, I did my best, including posting to my personal SNS.
I thought it was all about selling well. I thought that I should absolutely help the part that can help, so I worked hard to promote it.
I had worked with a small amount of money which was really the minimum for sculpting the heads and even the payment wasn’t full but split by two times until then which he specified as working fee or sculpting fee per head.
And I still thought I would get the rest of the amounts based on the contract after the sale was over.
After that, I did sculpt David Bowie and The Tick-Arthur including John Lennon which are total of three heads.
And I finished sculpting the last head earlier this year. After completing the third head, Vijay asked me to send the last one to him before the settlement with his guarantee of transferring the rest of the sculpting payment once he receives it.
I believed him and I sent it to Vijay before the settlement.
He usually gets three or four days after I send it via international courier or shipping. And I was noticed that the delivery was completed with a message from the courier service, but I couldn’t get any replies from Vijay and lost him since then.
Since I had never been lost his contact, I thought something happened to him such an irrelevant thought for him like whether we had traveled or not, maybe he is sick? you know like worries but he did not get in touch with me.
What happened was he just sent a simple email, seemingly out of blue, after about two months, and he said “I think I paid enough to you for supporting your sculptures and no more payments will be done".
What an answer! It was so frustrated to me and I kept asking him to pay the MG and the rest of sculpting fee in the contract. Again he said "John Lennon has not yet been sold. Please wait 2-3 months."
It wasn’t illogical because the pre-sales was done and I could not really understand what it meant and so absurd by the Vijay's answer, which was obviously stalling for time. And it felt like so fickle.
He was kind of a different person, not professional, and unacceptable manner to whom he had worked for more than a year.
Finally, he told me he could not afford to pay me the royalty because he did not use mines in conclusion that he re-sculpted the head by Molecule 8, and the contact was completely cut off from him.
When I had contracted, I was told that the body was not completely done and stable with many gimmicks so the size of the head I sculpt may not fit perfectly with the body.
Then he relieved me If he takes the John Lennon’s head, he will do 3D scan and resize it to fit into the body.
Now that I heard John Lennon was not the work of mine? I got frustrated with that and so upset about it.
Even I did not work with other companies while I was working with him to make his product the best.
Vijay knew it and always appreciated it. I could not believe this situation was happened and I kept thinking this was some kinds of misunderstanding and it wasn’t something happened actually until I got connected with others.
In the meantime, I was contacted by a 3D figure artist named Vimal who has suffered by the same situation by Vijay like me,
I have heard that there are several artists who have not received such money, and now I finally admit and acknowledge that this is a fraud, structured one from the beginning.
That being said, although I have heard that some of you who have purchased John Lennon and have not received it yet, I wish the complete product of John Lennon could be delivered to all.
I feel sorry to whom they believed me and purchased John Lennon.
Once again, Vijay has no answer yet so far, even though I have sent five prototype heads, and five painted heads which are total of ten.
And I have received approximately a fifth of the money I have to receive and he has guaranteed.
I have never felt unhappy whenever I work or sculpt something because I loved my job.
But this time, I seriously thought that I wanted to quit this job for the first time. I got hurt a lot by the person from my deep inside of heart, I was saddened for the first few days, and I could not do anything because of lots of stresses.
The reason why I post this article is that many people have asked me about Molecule 8.
I feel like there are some people who think that I belong to Molecule 8, so I want to clarify that I don’t belong to them and I do not want to see the same thing happen or have another victim like me.
I’d like to give a huge consolation to not only myself but also many victims by him and Molecule 8 here.
I gotta tell you where my works are floating around. These are my 5 sculptures and submitted to Molecule 8.
Please find out them.
Thank you very much
Best Regards,
K_a_Kim
