Do kids need design?
Kids live in a world that is too often tailored to big people only, which oblige them to live like Gulliver in homes, schools, cities they don’t feel comfortable in. Kids need design that allow them to use objects, enjoy and discover the world around them and I would add that design needs kids too.
What is your idea of good children’s toys?
Kids don’t need to many “Beep & Boop toys”. A good toy is something they can immediately recognize: colored, safe, funny and not banal. A good toy allow children to play as they want, in several ways. It allows kids to develop a supple adaptable mind, which means that it helps them to flourish their intelligence.
How well can spacial structures stimulate children’s creativity and imagination?
Kids don’t need “real” places. They just make everything real by themselves. Take your kids to an area made with pipes and old tires and they will see there a new planet to discover or a pirates cache of treasures. Spacial structures develop logical thinking and creative problem solving as well as motor skills. Just pay attention to gutters … they love to climb them.
What is your favorite product for kids – be it a toy or piece of furniture that you had as a child or a product that you discovered as an adult?
I still remember my first chair. I even made a song for it! And of course my tiny little house. Is there a child who doesn’t love to have a special hideout? As an adult I buy for my little girl a new desk almost every year. As she grows up, her desk grows up too. She knows that she can do whatever she wants there.
What games or with which toys do you most like to play together with your kids?
We both like to create toys. We’re currently designing a doll house where everything will be upcycled.
What games or toys do your kids most like to play with?
Costanza loves Kapla, Lego and all construction toy, she draws and paints all the time and of course she’s crazy for those “make up your princess” App. Hide and seek in the sitting room was one of her favourite activities too.
The five most important things every kid’s room should have are …
- a large colored rug to play on
- a place to draw on, like a giant blackboard
- bookshelves full of books
- a tent for some “me time”
- a good night lamp to say “funny monsters, you’re welcome”.