Uber Stylish Backgammon Set by Arik Ben Simhon and Ben Frankforter.

This lovely, easy-to-carry, modern backgammon set crafted of oak with wooden playing pieces comes in a self-contained case of either wood or a flocked finish.





Photos © Ori Ackerman

Price $440
Buy it here

Alphabet Factory Blocks From House Industries and Uncle Goose.

Beautiful handmade wooden blocks from Uncle Goose are inspired by the original House Industries factory logo and feature a selection of letters, numbers and symbols from House's renowned font collections. The 31 interlocking blocks are made in the USA from replenishable Michigan-grown, kiln-dried basswood and printed with non-toxic, lead-free child-safe inks.





Like all products from House Industries and Uncle Goose, the blocks come in beautiful keepsake packaging and are the kind of blocks that will fascinate children and adults alike.




Compatible with all human neurosensory systems and powered by finger oil, children's mucus and a love for learning, the Factory Blocks do not require batteries, software updates or hand wringing over obsolescence.

24 1.75" cubes (44mm)
Ages 3+



Alphabet Factory Blocks, $70 USD
buy them here or here

Traditional Children's Toys With A Modern Twist From Sweden.

above image by Jakob Fridholm for Family Living Magazine

Acne JR is a Swedish toy company based in Stockholm that designs traditional and iconic children toys with a modern twist. Part of the Acne family that makes fashions and advertising, the children's toys are thoughtfully created, from the materials to the packaging, each toy is influenced by design and fashion and is beautiful in its simplicity.








The lovely and smple black and white packaging:



Shop their online store here

Acne JR is part of the Acne Family company group, founded in 1996, which works within design, media and fashion. More info at acne.se

Acne JR
Box 4220
102 65 Stockholm
Sweden
+46 736 99 99 07
info@acnejr.com
facebook.com/acnejr

100 Wooden Toy Cars By 100 Different Designers: TobeUs

above: one of the more uusual wooden toy cars, Tomoki Azumi's 'Would You Like A Slice Of Toast?'



Matteo Ragni has gathered together 100 masters of design from all over the world including Karim Rashid, Marcel Wanders, Barber Ogersby, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Jaime Hayon, Fabio Novembre and Setsu & Shinobu Ito to name but a few. With these globally renowned designers and the support of Alessi, Ragni created “100% TobeUs: 100 designers for 100 new toy cars.”



TobeUs was born as a result of a designer who had become a father and couldn't stand watching his own children captivated by toys just for a few hours and then destroying or growing bored of them. According to Matteo Ragni the easiest solution to this is to give children the possibility to 'love' an object.

To accomplish this, Ragni felt the right choice of material with a recognizable smell, an unquestioned resistance to impact and texting, and, ultimately, a dignified end: recycling or re-utilization was the way to go.

This is how the idea of TobeUs was born: toy cars made of cedar wood, strong and sweet-scented, beautifully and cleverly planned by skillful and passionate designers.


above, clockwise from top left: Fabio Novembre, Paolo Lomazzi, Setsu & Shinobu Ito and Donato Durbino

Some resemble architecture, others dinosaurs. Some are incredibly aerodynamic, while others have multiple angular components. And still some are inspired by present automobiles and others double as everything from pencil holders to puzzles.

Here are some of the more unusual examples from the collection of 100:

Karim Rashid - Tobek:

Fernando and Humberto Campana - Untitled:

Marcel Wanders - Journey Of A Cedar:

Matteo Bazzicalupo - Fakir:

Barber Osgerby - Three, Two, One:

Miriam Mirri - Bed and Breakfast:

Alberto Meda - Solar Car:

Duilo Forte - 3CV:

Paolo Orlandini - Archicar:

Kazuyo Komoda - Doll Dining Car:

Mario Trimarchi - H-Onda:

Spalvieri Del Ciotto - City Car:

Marco Dessi - La Transportamatite:

Raffaella Mangiarotti - Superfast Sketch Holder:


Since its inception, designers who wanted to draw their own TobeUs have multiplied. It seems that everyone has an idea for a wooden toy car. But the project has caveats - TobeUs is made by two cuts in a wooden stump that always have the same size, so it's a project and design exercise that imposes clear limits.

You can even try your own hand at it with a downloadable template:


See all 100 designs here.

The exhibition at the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan (Museo della Scienza e della Tecnologia di Milano) runs from December 5th through January 13th, 2013.

Jason Freeny Launches His First Mass Marketed Designer Toys: CAPSLS

One minute you're an unknown artist working on a quirky new project; the next you’re being named Clutter Magazine’s Breakthrough Artist of 2011. Suddenly you've got an army of avid Facebook fans following your every move and your pieces are selling for $10,000 each. So where do you go from there?



For Jason Freeny, who made his name by dissecting toys, the answer was fairly obvious. This week Freeny launched his very own line of designer toys; CAPSLs.


above: Freeny began designing his CAPSLs way back in 2009

CAPSLs are super-durable, interactive keychains with pocket-sized personality and just enough space to store your smallest goodies, like candies, mints, “prescriptions”-- whatever it is that keeps you going.


“For my first line of designer toys, I wanted to add function” Freeny says. “ Everything else out there is all about form, but CAPSLs are actually useful too. And I wanted to add a 4th dimension, since so much of what I do focuses on what’s inside; CAPSLs let you go inside and actually use that space to store things.”



The first series of CAPSLs features 12 original designs ranging from sweet (Flower Bomb) to zany (Frog Squid). Tops and bottoms create an airtight seal, and they’re interchangeable, so you can mix and match with more than 100 combinations.



Artist Jason Freeny Shows Us Once Again; It's What's Inside That Counts
CAPSLs (series one) includes: • 3 Eyed Squid • 40 Watt • Bones & Band-Aids • Brain Monster • Daily Dose • Flower Bomb • Frog Squid • Happy Pill • Frog Squid • Peace Bomb • Shark Bomb • Spray Bomb • Squid Monster • Medicine Man (limited edition 300 available)








above: the Medicine Man CAPSL is limited to 300 editions


FCTRY/Jailbreak Collective: Based in Brooklyn, FCTRY is an independent product design company specializing in creative applications of mass production.

In addition to the original 12, several special limited edition CAPSLs will be released over the next few weeks.

Buy CAPSLs