Filed under: Stationery and office supplies, Toys and games, art, decoration | Tags: collector's item, designer toys, elegant, key chain, modern, pens, Playsam, Playtown, Saab 001, Scandinavian design, Sixten Saxon, Swedish design
Yes, Playsam is a Swedish toy company, but actually, their products are rather toys by accident, as the superb design is surely their main focus. This is also visible by classifying the majority of their toys as executive toys, by which they mean that these are not just for the little ones, but are to be used as design objects independent of age. Take a look at their Airliner plane and oldtimer racer. But with these beautiful JoJos, pens and key chains below Playsam also has perfectly designed items for adults.
And deesign buffs will surely fall for Playsam’s incredible Playtown and Saab 001 concept car: Not that all of Playsam’s items aren’t masterpieces of design already, but especially these last two products are modern art in perfection and would make the perfect sculpture to display in your living room! The polished wooden pieces of the Playtown represent the four most characteristic sights of Sweden’s capital Copenhagen, i.e. The City Hall, Kaknaes Tower, The Globe and The Royal Castle. The superb quality of this set shows in the details: The City Hall’s crown is made of silver and palted with 23 carat gold! On the other hand the Saab 001 model is inspired by Sixten Saxon’s prototype of the Saab Concept Car 92001, which did not look like a normal car, but was futuristic and aerodynamic design in perfection. The modern design of this wooden toy, or rather piece of art, brings the charm of the origninal Saab home with its wonderful sophisticated design. Check them out yourself:
While researching Playsam’s products, I found even more interesting things: In 2006 Fitzsu Society, a Los Angeles based store for modern design home accessories, had gathered a group of designers from around the world to create their own interpretation of Playsam’s cars. While the most beautiful products are of course sold by now, I could still find a few beautiful ones available:
Among others, the whole collection of Playsam products can be bought at Scandinavian Design Center or Juuka . The Fitzsu designer GP cars can be bought at Fitzsu .
Filed under: Toys and games, art, decoration | Tags: collector's item, Jesco von Puttkamer, nostalgic, tin toys
These beautiful collector’s items are designed and crafted by designer Jesco von Puttkamer. The wind-up tin-toys are hand-made in Germany, which makes them one-of-a-kind, as well as high quality products. Jesco’s unusual designs comprise a telephone with moving receiver, a boat, a police car (which I find has more resemblance with a tractor, but never mind), a swiss car and a Red Cross ambulance that can both climb uphill due to their assymetric cross-shaped rear wheel, as well as a set of race cars, which are a bit smaller than the others, but at least they come two per package, turning the lever increases their speed drastically. All tin vehicles are simply beautiful to look at, and were designed with happy memories of childhood and the joy of simple toys in mind. Once wound up with the included key, they run for about two minutes.
However, part of their nostalgic charme stems from the fact that these gems do have exposed gears like in the old days, and also the sharp edges make them unsuitable for children, so these are beautiful pieces for adults who will just appreciate them for their decorative and sentimental value. Arriving with a numbered and signed instruction leaflet, they are a great collector’s item after all.
Available at Unica Home , $55.00-$75.00.
If you’re interested in a little more information about the artist, read on, otherwise, just skip to my next entry 
After a bit of research I managed to discovered Jesco von Puttkamer’s website and thought I should also share some pictures of his studio and some other works.
I had never heard of him before, but apparently he must have some reputation, since he has already completed contract work for many big companies, such as Volkswagen and Fuji, and actually began his artistic career recycling leftovers from industrial production, out of which he created large metal sculptures which could be turned, twisted, pulled or otherwise set in motion, making an awful lot of noise. His current focus is on small collectors toys that double as objets d’art and are produced by himself, using the brand name ‘Jetzt Produkte’.
You can also order his creations directly from him, with the order form on his website, and he also completes custom orders. But there’s one big catch though: His website is only in German! No wonder why it was so difficult to find it in the first place, and of course apart from the fact that he belongs to a widely extended German noble family whose tradition it is to name their first-born Jesco. Thus you can imagine there are quite a few of them historically, among them is a rocket enginer and senior NASA manager, as well as a governor of German Cameroon, back in the days before World War I, when Germany had joined the European rush to divide Africa among themselves (see Wikipedia). By the way,’von’ means from in German and is a prefix denoting nobility. More precisely, it refers to the city or village under patronage. So Jesco von Puttkamer’s ancestry must be going back to some (probably tiny) place called Puttkamer.
Filed under: Toys and games, art, decoration | Tags: Alexander Girard, colorful, decoration, dolls, wooden items
These wooden dolls made of pinewood were originally created by Girard as decorations for his Santa Fe home. Fortunately though, design museum Vitra is reissuing models 1-11. These dolls with sometimes happy, sometimes melancholy faces are hand-painted and rather indended as home decoration than as actual toys, and with their modern design, they would surely look fabulous as room decoration, not just for the nursery! They also make perfect gifts, since they arrive in a printed, wooden box.
Available at Unica Home for $150.00 each.
Filed under: Bags and accessories, Tableware, art | Tags: art, badges, Bags and accessories, modern, mugs, People will always need plates, plates, prints, tea towels
I guess naming your company People Will Always Need Plates is a bit of an unusual (an lengthy) name, but at least it’s true. If you believe their product range, then people will also always need tea towels, badges and prints, oh and not to forget coloring books for the little ones. Now what makes this company so special is its design: these are not the typical flower, fruit or animal collections, but blueprints of mostly modern architecture.
Ordering is a bit difficult though, since they don’t offer a regular online shop, UK buyers have to get an order form from their website and send it in with a cheque, while foreign customers need to contact them first. Seems like the 21st century has not arrived everywhere… Oh well, it’s their business of course, but I am certain a lot more people would like to buy their items if they had a working online shop!
Filed under: art, carpets | Tags: Alexander Girard, carpet, carpet tiles, colorful, FLOR, La Fonda del Sol
Today it’s gray and rainy outside, so what options do you have, but to take the sun inside, if it doesn’t want to shine for you outside? And who would be more apt to do just that than Alexander Girard? I have to say, I just love his colorful designs. If you haven’t heard of him before, I’ll just say really quickly that Girard is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, colorists of the 20th century, and is known mainly for his textile design, combining folk elements with rich, warm colors and modern design.
The La Fonda del Sol line by Girard was created for the, surprise surprise, La Fonda del Sol restaurant in 1960. Though this restaurant has long disappeared from New York, his designs remain and are just as stunning and happyiness inducing as always, with their vibrant colors and folk-inspired sun-prints. The whole La Fonda collection actually comprised a whole lot range of interior design, from wall-decor and table-ware to pillows and carpets. Unfortunately, the other items are not available at the moment, I would have loved to introduce you to the La Fonda pillows.
But luckily, FLOR has introduced a carpet tile collection based on his sunny design With their warm colors and friendly faces, the La Fonda del Sol prints certainly look great anywhere in the house, from living room to study, and they even perfect for a nursery or playroom. Not to mention these tiles are made of soft velours that is easy to clean should a mess occur, and can even be pulled up and rinsed in a sink, if disaster strikes. The pull-up feature is also great if you want to rearrange the tiles to give the room a new look, or if you will be moving to a new apartment and want to use them in your new place as well. Now you can have a carpet that adapts to your changing needs and brings great, timeless, mid-century art into your home as well!
The FLOR tiles come in packs of six, with large suns (one sun per tile) in the variants Azul (blue), Mandarina (orange) and Verde (green) and with small suns (nine suns per tile) in the multicolored Piqueño.
Available at FLOR, $159.99 for a six tile rug.
Filed under: Toys and games, art | Tags: Alexander Girard, art, Gio Ponti, Maharam, memory game, Toys and games, Verner Panton
This Girard pick is actually not entirely his creation, but only features some of his fabric designs created for Maharam, the over 100 year old textile family business, which revolutionized the commercial fabric sector in the 1960s with special contract design for commercial purposes. Though Maharam has some great design to offer, the prices are a bit steep, e.g. pillows available from $150 upwards.
However, if you are searching for some nifty, affordable designer item, Maharam has repacked its most famous designs, among which also Alexander Girard’s textile designs for Maharam, into one stylish memory game that does not only look great displaying some awesome patterns, but it is also completely timeless. And since it does not contain any of the flower or animal themes so typical for memory games, Maharam’s memory is also great for any age. It consists of 72 richly colored cards, depicting 36 sets of famous Maharam patterns and does not only contain quality design, such as Gio Ponti’s “I Morosi Alla Finestra” or Verner Panton’s “Optik”, the workmanship is top-quality as well, being made of heavy stock and printed in Germany.
Moreover, at a price of $36.00, it is luckily also affordable! Available at DesignWithinReach
Filed under: art | Tags: art, colorful, Grégoire Ganter, Lea's Alphabets, modern
Though the following piece is actually designed for a modern playroom, I think it looks so amazing, you could just as well put it anywhere else in the house, and it matches really well with the LoJo Ball which I am reviewing just below. Hence, I suppose, as many adults would not mind hanging his pictures on the wall, here is a little review:
Lea’s Alphabets by Grégoire Ganter is a great example that shows how kids can have their room decorated in a fresh style, that is entertaining (many details and pictures to watch), educative (children can learn the alphabet, learn that there are different fonts, and associate objects with letters, just as in ‘normal’ alphabet imagery for kids) and timeless (his designs are not only for little one’s, but look also appeal to teenagers. But above all these advantages, his prints just look great! Take a look:
As you could see, there is a huge variety of themes available from the Lea’s Alphabets range, you can have and a-z print composed of just food, for example, or just using one specific color. Also, you may pick a one letter print, featuring a collage of many objects starting with that letter and many different fonts. Or perhaps, you just want a single letter-picture combination, maybe to have your child’s initial as the focal point of the nursery. His prints are also available as postcards, and you may even contact him for custom work, e.g. spelling out your son’s or daughter’s name. All big prints are available in several different sizes. They are limited editions of 100 pieces, signed and numbered on the back, and printed on matte, archival paper, so you will have to frame them properly, if you want to enjoy them for years to come.
Available on his website, a set of 26 a-z postcards for $52, small letter or alphabet print for $200, big prints for $500 (also in-between sizes available). And one last picture:
Filed under: art, decoration | Tags: art, British design, Mikro cube, Mikro man, Mikromart, Sam Buxton, sculpture
I think these steel fold-up sculptures by Mikromart are truly amazing. The concept of a 3D pop-up is so simple and still, there is something fascinating about the look of stencilwork, that makes these Mikro cubes by London designer Sam Buxton so interesting.
The Mikromart design is such a great combination, I think they fit anywhere in the house and make a cool, modern but still somewhat playful atmosphere, whether you put them inside your study or on your dresser. Furthermore, wouldn’t they be a true gem in a boy’s room with their timeless design? Maybe not the garden theme above, but most themes are rather masculine, like the ‘car’ and ‘mars’ themes, or check out the weight-lifter below.
Available on the Mikromart website, prices vary between 7, 25 and 65£, so you can even get a Mikro sculpture if you don’t feel like spending a fortune!
