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.

Peter Rolfe's Sculpted Wood Human Form Dressers

Woodworker Peter Rolfe has created some of the most lovely hand crafted wood pieces of traditional forms, like console tables, chairs and jewelry boxes.

But his latest sculptural pieces, in the form of female and male human bodies are so interesting, I had to share them with you. Crafted of birch ply, the male and female sculpted torsos include functional drawers. Take a look.

Era I:




Gen II:




Era III:





Peter also collaborates with woodworker Carl Handy, together they opened a workshop in the latter half of 2005 called, not surprisingly, Rolfe and Handy.


above: Peter in his studio

About Peter

(in his own words):
"I grew up in the East Midlands and from a young age felt most at home in the Peter Rolfe school workshops. After gaining two A-levels in Art and Design I moved to High Wycombe to attend Buckinghamshire University. High Wycombe has a long history of furniture production and it's university has a well established fine furniture course.

After completing my HND in Design and Technology I began work at Stewart Lindford Furniture as an apprentice. I spent five years learning all i could from the experienced makers I worked alongside, using only solid hardwood and specializing in burrs, I learned many traditional construction methods and improved my hand skills. During my time with Steward Linford I received a Guild Mark for craftsmanship, awarded specifically for the Catherine of Aragon Desk, a limited edition piece sold through Harrods.

For the past seven years I have been working for Stuart Groves Furniture learning more up to date techniques, how to manipulate timber and discovering how modern manmade materials play an increasingly large part in today's furniture production.

The varied range of experience I have gained over the past fourteen years has enabled me to design and make an array of furniture, from simple elegant jewellery boxes to more advanced sculptural pieces. My current work is heavily influenced by nature, using shapes that we all recognize but would not be traditionally thought of as furniture forms."

Peter's Contact information:
peter@p-rolfe.co.uk
16 Old Coach Drive
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP11 1AS

You will also be able to some of his pieces at this upcoming show in London:

Making the Future
Timonty Mark - Portman Village
9th Sept - 4th October 2009
Mon - Sat 11am - 7pm, Sun 11am - 5pm
20 New Quebec Street
London
W1H 7RZ