Category: Kids

Categories / Kids

Sew-your-own pocket dolls kit from Clothkits

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Clothkits dolls

As well as working with contemporary designers, the relaunched Clothkits company continues to draw on its rich archives to produce some striking products, such as these sew-your-own pocket dolls kit. They are based on an original design by Louise Elliott dating to 1978.  

The fantastically patterned and colourful dolls come as a fabric panel which, in true Clothkits style, you cut around the outlines of the figures, sew the front and back together and then stuff, making them an ideal beginner's sewing project, as well as an attractive toy. The fabric panel alone is currently on sale for £7.50 and you can also get a kit including material for stuffing for an additional £3.45. 

Buy them online
Categories / Homeware, Kids

Bror Sideboard for Children

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Bror_valn

I will confess to being more than slightly obsessed with sideboards. I love their practicality and that they invariable look as if they belong to one retro decade or another. So I’m delighted to have come across a new variation on the sideboard in the Bror – a sideboard for children.

Designed by Catharina Engelholm for Heirloom, who specialise in creating stylish furniture for children that would make adults envious. The Bror looks just like a typical mid-century piece, with a combination of drawers and sliding doors, and available in walnut, but it is in miniature, standing at just over 15 inches high.

The Bror costs 910 Euros (around £850) and can be ordered online from Swedish website Pid.

Categories / Design and Interiors, Kids

Rietveld Junior Crate chair

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Rietveld junior chair

Any design classic worth its salt now seems to be available in a kids version too. Earlier this summer we featured the Knoll range and there's also the Charles and Ray Eames selection. The junior crate chair reproduces the chair Gerrit Rietveld made from reused crate wood packaging in 1934, but at 2/3 of its normal size. These chairs do have slightly more of a pedigree than some of the designs on the market as, in his lifetime, Rietveld did build a pair for his own daughter. 

The twenty-first century version comes as a flat pack in a variety of colourful finishes as well as the natural version shown here. If you think your kids aesthetic sensibilities are worth this kind of investment, the chair costs 189 euros. 

Buy it online

Categories / Books, Kids

Reissue of Tomi Ungerer’s The Three Robbers

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Three robbers

Tomi Ungerer's children's book The Three Robbers has been reissued in English. The book was originally written in 1961 and shows, through 20 fantastic illustrations, the story of three gruesome robbers who encounter an orphan girl, Tiffany, who is not afraid of them at all. 

The book is the first of twenty children's book titles by Ungerer being reissued by Phaidon, who describe him as 'the most famous children's book author you've never heard of'. Ungerer's prolific illustrative career in fact stretches far beyond kids' stories, as he also produced posters protesting the war in Vietnam and erotic adult titles. 

If you would prefer to stick to his child friendly offerings, this book is for sale for £9.95.

Buy it online

Categories / Kids

Alice Melvin’s ‘Cut out and dress Mr and Mrs Peg’ dolls

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Melvin Peg

If you want your kid to do something other than stare at a monitor all day, Alice Melvin's 'Cut out and dress Mr and Mrs Peg' paper dolls could be the answer. They are also a slice of pure nostalgia for the adult involved, two dolls for you (or your child) to cut out and dress in one of the two old fashioned outfits that is included for each doll in the set.  

Melvin is an illustrator, book designer and artist and both the dolls and the outfits, including the bathing suits pictured above, are charming. If you like the style of her work, she's due to have her second children's book published by the Tate in September this year. 

The set costs £5 from her online store

Categories / Design and Interiors, Kids

Barbapapa pouffe by Marie Leblon

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Barb

When it comes to novelty seating, it does get much more leftfield than the Barbapapa pouffe by Marie Leblon.

Produced by Leblon-Delienne, buying one actually involves picking up two items – firstly the actual pouffe, then a cover of the 1970s cartoon character in the colour of your choice, including the blue one above. We suspect it's not convenient chair to sit in, but if you want a talking point (or something that hte kids will love), it's got to be a winner.

The white support for it costs around £72, with the Barbapapa exterior selling for around £29.50.

Find out more at the Made in Design website