Supertoy Project
Supertoy(s) is a project to design a toy by children for children. The project was initially developed by Kahve Society in collaboration with children from Headley Park Primary School in Bristol, in January 2006, with the support of Arnolfini and Creative Partnerships. The general principle of the project is that children are largely disenfranchised: they play with toys, but have little input into their design or production.
As part of the initial stages of the project, various research was carried out about manufacture to inform some of the decisions the children took. They were particularly concerned about materials, costs and sustainability. We also made a trip to Toys R Us. However, still much of the manufacturing procedure remains a mystery to the children, and indeed all children. We aim to make this apparent, to show the inner workings and to suggest more sustainable alternatives. One of the most memorable parts of the project was the 'Sid Day' (named after the boy next door in the film Toy Story) when children took apart unwanted toys and made new ones from the parts. This is recreated as a gallery-based experience, Mutant Toy Factory, in the exhibition Supertoys at Arnolfini.
The children also came up with a series of designs for new kinds of toys and as a final outcome they have designed a Supertoy Kit informed by principles of recycling unwanted toys. Although the kit did not go to manufacture (as we all hoped), it has become the inspiration for the book, Supertoys: A User's Manual.
Follow the links below for more information and to see some of the outcomes of the project:
CREDITS
