IndyPlush - Endangered Species Plushies and Cool Stuffed Toys With A Conscience.

IndyPlush, who creates imaginative, adorable and hip plush toys made in Los Angeles, has just launched their Endangered Species collection (some shown above) from which a portion of all profits goes toward educational or wildlife protection organizations. But before showing you that collection, first a little background on the company and their original line of plush products.

IndyPlush Original Collection:



It all started with Plinio Garcia and Andrew Ruesch's son Luke, who was in Franceil Masi’s kindergarten class. Masi, who is not only an elementary school teacher, but also an artist as well as an author and illustrator of children's books, annually asks her students to draw a picture of an animal at the end of each school year. She then turns them into plush toys as a remembrance.


above: Luke's dog is now one of their best sellers.

When Luke brought his plush dog home, Plinio Garcia and Andrew Ruesch loved it. At the next teacher conference, they asked Franceil if she wanted to start a business and that’s essentially how IndyPlush started. Now, Luke’s Dog is one of their best sellers.


above: the Large Owly is their priciest plush at $99

Cute, cuddly and cozy with an edge (moustaches, skeletons and pirate patches), the toys are made with sustainable and eco-friendly materials in Los Angeles. They presently offer 26 different plush toys with prices ranging from $30 to $99 depending upon style and size.

Bunny Skelly in various colors:

Long and Short-haired Wooly Cats:

Spiny Monsters in various colors:

Pigwy:

Skelly Cats and Señor Cat:

Señor Pigwy:

Owly Pirates in various colors:

The pink, bald Love Monster shown in the first image is also available.

The Endangered Species Collection
Now, their newest collection, The Endangered Species consisting of 13 lovable characters from which a portion of the proceeds benefits educational and wildlife protection programs:














Just look how good my own Indy Plush Endangerd Species Tiger looks in my home:


Franceil, Plinio and Andrew now design, create and construct their adorable and hip plush toys in Los Angeles, California and they can be purchased here at their online store.


For other purchase inquiries or questions, please contact rick@indyplush.com

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.