Dr. Seuss Motto

My baby, promoting one of Dr. Seuss' wisdoms. 

Kids' Activity Board

As inspired by the Lilla a design blog we have created our own activity board for our little toddler who loves fiddling with parts that move, especially those that open and close or those going round and round.  Any wheel is a winner so few car features had to be added.

At 17 months he couldn't care less about the black board but really loves slamming the doors closed and locking it too.  The mirror is a huge hit (bought as set of 3 in Ikea) as the kid keeps kissing his own reflection and laughing at the guy 'opposite'.  The light switch, bicycle bell, and hanging keys etc. on hooks is also very popular.

The flag pole (on the left side) with two flags that are supposed to be moved up or down is a bit of a challenge. For now there is no interest other then trying to rip the flags off which, thanks to the superglue, hasn't yet been successful.  

 The little car is a laminated picture with a magnet.  

The top of the switch could work well as a place for chalks.  If someone wasn't trying to eat them...

Taking the kiddo to a DIY store helps.  We just picked items he was the most interested in.  Well, those appropriate ones, you should have seen what the kid actually wanted to take home!  

In Junior's hand: a small songe with a magnet attached so the sponge for wiping the board can stay right below the board.  He tries to 'stick it' on other things and gets frustrated that it doesn't hold on so the sponge will be 'hiding' for a couple more months I think.  

Postcards poster

I've had this set of Yoshimoto Nara postcard from his exhibition for ages.  It took place in Sydney and back then I couldn't have bought something larger to hang on my wall.  I loved and still love his art and I had to have something more than a postcard on my wall..

So that's where my postcard poster came from.

I used a large black picture frame, black paper as a background and a white pen to write the names below each postcard.  I used those tiny thick double sided stickers to attach the cards (no idea what those are called) but it made it look much better than if they were simply glued on flat.  

The wall of fame

And here is where most of my dear friends' photos get their view from.  A kitchen wall.  If you knew how tiny our apartment is, especially how impossibly small the kitchen is, you'd understand they mean a bit to me to get that many square meteres for themselves.  

Anna Chambers Dunny

One of my favourites - Dunny, hanging out in Austria, designed by Anna Chambers, Dunny Fatale blind box series 2010

Art toys - a little obsession

Ever since I was a small kid (back in the day surrounded mainly by wooden toys or toys made out of a soft kind of not very colorful plastic) I treasured few items I owed that were different to other available toys. 

I don't mean to cry about limitations and lack of stuff in communist countries in 70s and 80s but I'd like to enhance the fact that anything unusual, foreign and cool was simply hard to get your hands on.  And when you got it, you held on to it and you valued and treasured it. 

To the point: few of those items I treasured included a tiny tiny baby doll, maybe half an inch, with perfect details and non movable limbs,  a tiny fluorescent piece of plastic triangle shape I spend hours looking at and just holding, a tiny piglet figure, few early Kinder Egg toys, a tiny plastic barrel, and few others.  Point is, I loved these things, I loved the way they looked, I loved the way they felt, I loved the way they looked and I loved the way they were unique.  They were not meant to show off.  Really, nobody cared about a shiny piece of a plastic triangle.  They were for me.  They made me feel happy.  Somehow.  

And I still love shiny plasticky pretty things although the world is cluttered with it all.  It is still almost impossible for me to throw away a pretty plastic packaging box nowadays or not keep an old favorite pen that doesn't work anymore.  Thanks to some remaining sense in me and the lack of living space I am indeed learning to let go.  

I have come across my first 'designer toy' by an accident really.  It was maybe around 2001 in London.   I was browsing shops in Carnaby Street and there was a shop that kept me in longer than a stationery shop.  If you knew me you'd know that's pretty much near impossible. It was FULL of toys and yet it was not a toyshop for kids. 

There were tiny, small, large plastic figures of different designs and funky mirrors with Gloomy Bear and books full of amazing illustrations and twisted nursery rhymes and much, much more.  I really was the kid in a sweetshop.  Right by the counter they had lots of small boxes for a fiver.  You could hardly tell what sort of thing was in them but I knew I really wanted to buy them! I bought a couple then and few other funky things. 

This guy below was one of the first ones.  As soon as I opened the box I was in love.  I loved that odd bear and the sticker that came with it, and the keychain, and the box of course.  I wanted to have him with me everywhere.  I felt like a kid.  I did not want him to be on my keys and get scratched though.  I wanted more. And I got more.  And I want a lot more. 

 Designed by Akira Yamaguchi, Toy2R, Qee Series 5a

Now my toys sit in our apartment.  Our child or any other is not allowed to play with them.  I take pictures of them in different places wherever I go. And one always travels with me.  They hang in my picture frames.  I love looking at them and holding them.  None of my friends or family members share  my 'feelings' towards them, none understand the interest.  Most respect it. Thank you.  It could get much worse.  I really don't have that many as I'm not completely oblivious to the needs of others (home badgets, lack of space, blah blah..) 

I do however want to share.  And that's why they are here.  Because I KNOW there is someone out there who is as normal as I am! I will be sharing some of the best photos of my 'Friends' as I call them or 'Dudes' also.  

The kick off

Working on it.. honestly!