small seeks to challenge the idea that children are somehow incompatible with professional life and that they are simply an interuption to our creativity. children should not be feared for and feared, but become part of our everyday and working lives.
rca children’s centre: free poster now available!
By popular demand following the great success of the RCA children’s centre at department 21, the poster is now to be made publicly available. just download here.
Lo res version
Hi res version
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last chance today to see designing (for) the socialist child, a small expo at the rca
a SMALL expo on children and design for children in east germany.
on the deck, hosted by department 21 in the interior courtyard, at show 2, RCA kensington.
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transforming the ordinary into the magical – a gift of childhood
When my daughter Anna was born I suddenly found myself with time on my hands, and an enormous need for creative expression. I would take Anna for walks in a pushchair in the park, and rather than talking to the other mothers, I preferred walking alone, literally writing stories in my head. It was also around this time when my night’s sleep became full of the most vivid and amazing dreams. I realized that these dreams, often involving lone journeys through deserted streets and landscapes, came into being as a compensation for the temporary “shrinking” of the external world (my movement curtailed due to having a young child).
I found a freedom in the interior landscape, which I wanted to share with others, especially children, who are so familiar with it. And so I collected the various short stories that I wrote up in my head during days’ mundane activities, and weaved a narrative around them, centered around a little girl called Violet, who passes through two worlds: the world of external reality, and the world of dreams, and who seeks a way of bringing these together. I illustrated the book myself, incorporating leaf, flower and other natural textures. The book is also a homage to my grandmother, because it was she who instilled in me the love of storytelling.
Ispent years of my childhood wondering the hill of Petrin in the city of Prague with her every day after school, while she made a story of anything at hand, intertwining local legends, amazing family histories, personal experience, gossip, films that she watched the night before on TV, infusing these with her own vivid flair for poetic exaggeration, bringing out strange connections and synchronicities. The ordinary was transformed into magical and it is this gift of childhood, the celebration of the imagination, which I believe needs to be nurtured and protected, in children but also adults.
Tereza Stehlikova/ Animation PhD
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dont miss SMALL TALK at department 21!
let's make the RCA world class for parents too!
Thursday 1st July at Show 2 at the Royal College of Art
12pm PhD student and mother Jessica Jenkins hosts SMALL TALK, a session dedicated to thinking creatively about how children, design and research can meet successfully. With guests, architect Heather Peak, painter Jaspar Joffe, photographer and new Student Union leader Ekua McMorris and jeweller Donna Brennan, all parents!
For information on department 21, an interdisciplinary space at the RCA, see http://www.department21.net/
for visitor information see http://www.rca.ac.uk/Default.aspx?ContentID=508435
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Wouldnt it be nice if your toys grew with you? Little Bangers test emotional longevity
Inspired by timeless quality wooden toys, we strove to create a long-lasting emotional product that may help to assemble childhood dreams into a bright future. Life finds a way of emerging, children find ways of playing. They use what is at hand, merging contexts and scales with their endless imagination. Everything makes sense. Play, observation, discussion and design led us to conceiving a cohesive system of toys that embody this natural ability we would all like to keep in touch with.
The child’s play experience matures with him or her and is kept enthusiastic by a series of discoveries achieved through combination. This pretend world of toys truly comes to life as their combination leads to increasingly complex interactions informed by deep research into children’s physical and psychological development. Discoveries are made over years of play, culminating in a single object that may last a lifetime: an alarm clock!
Experimenting
Various iterations of experiments were carried out the the themes of perception and ambiguity. When the project evolved towards continually relevant products and children, we approached our outcome by investigation children’s discoveries through combination and play.
Making
Our countless pages of sketches and discussion were carefully modelled in 3D and made ready for prototyping. Some parts where milled or carved straight from solid beechwood. Others were rapid prototyped and finished off by hand. In any case there was a lot of sanding to do!
Testing
We took the finished product to a nursery school and unleashed nine 2-6 year old children on it! The results amazed us, as they validated many of the design decisions taken in the final stages.
Pulling hidden objects from "Curiosity Box"
Rattle gets taken off a baby by girl who realised it would fit nicely in a whole in the car's body
There is a lot more to the push-along car!
Spinning top is spun at age 3 1/2
front of clock when complete
back of clock when complete
This project was developed by Chronosome Lab as part of the Innovation Design Engineering Ma/Msc for the Royal College of Art and Imperial College.
made by
Anirudha Surabhi
Christopher Black
Christina Biliouri
Antonio Fernandes
Graduating 2010
www.littlebang.info
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need a break? state childcare for parents at home: the halte-garderie in france
If you stay at home to look after your little ones, all the more reason to take a break. That is the principle of the halte-garderie system in France, where once registered, you can drop off your pre-school children for a few hours or several half days per week while you go and shop, rest, go to the hairdresser, get your legs waxed… well nobody is controlling. Financially supported by the Caisse d’Allocations Familiales (CAF), the price is modest: calculated according to your income, you pay between 0.76 euros and 2.29 euros per hour, tax deductible. For this your little love is looked after by professional childcarers in good surroundings, and gets to play with other children as well as doing lots of creative activities. The only drawback is that with all such good things, places are much sought after and there is a waiting list.
Filed under caring for children around the world
Dad, please can I stay a little bit longer? There’s a man who makes football trophies out of the sun!
The Copa del Rey (The King’s Cup) is an annual football cup competition for Spanish football teams, founded in 1902. On Wednesday, 19 May 2010, Atletico de Madrid and Sevilla CF played the Final of the Copa del Rey in the Nou Camp, Barcelona. The final result was 0-2. As my team since I was a kid, Atletico de Madrid, lost this game, I decided to rematch the final during my journey.
On 26th May, one week after the official game took place, I arrived to Estella. Estella is a wonderful village in Navarra, very well know for its outstanding food and wines. It happened that the day I arrived it was the Patron Saint’s Day, and the streets were crowed full of kids who didn’t have to go to school that day. A spontaneous football match was going on in the major square, and I thought it was just what I was looking for my Copa del Rey rematch. ‘I have only one shot at it’ I thought to myself…
As soon as I entered in the square, my bike started to draw attention. Locals are used to see curious pilgrims hanging around the streets of Estella, but this was maybe a little bit too much. I approached one of the goalkeepers, and asked him if they were going to play for a little bit longer. The kid didn’t pay much attention, and without even looking at me replied that they would stay as late as they want to cause the day after there wasn’t school either.
At that point, I decided to play an improvised role to get the kid’s attention: ‘you know what? I’m coming from London with this machine, to make the Camino de Santiago. During my journey I organize football tournaments, and create the trophies for them with this machine, and I would like to play the Copa del Rey final here in Estella, right now’. From that moment, I got all the kids’ attention, they started to analyze very carefully my bike and all its components, and what was an improvised attempt to produce some trophies. We decided to play a 1 hour game, and during the match, I would be cycling around the improvised football field in the square, producing several trophies for the best goalkeeper, top scorer, best defender, and best player. The kids asked: ‘did you come from England with that bike underwater?’, ‘what do you exactly do for living?’, ‘want to come tomorrow to play football with us?’ or, ‘why did you choose Estella to organize the Copa del Rey Final?’As long as it was getting late, and some kids had to go home, they run to meet their parents who were in bars and terraces near by the square, telling them ‘dad please, can I stay a little bit longer? There’s a man who makes football trophies out of the sun!’ At the same time the players were giving its best to get one of the trophies, which became something much more than just a small piece of plastic; it allowed creating a fantastic scenario, and an event that will be remembered by all the kids and myself as a wonderful evening and so much fun. When I left the place, way past midnight, they kept on running behind my bike shouting ‘Jorge please come next year to Estella, but with the South Africa World Cup Trophy!’
Jorge Mañes, Design Products, Graduating 2010
http://ultreia2010.blogspot.com/ for the bicycle travels
see also the Eiffel Tower project: http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/8377/jorge-manes-the-eiffel-factory.html
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what do children want in stories?
It is far harder than one expects to write and illustrate for children. My work tries to engage children on a level that is stimulating to their senses.
Last month I did a research project and exhibition with Quentin Blake which aimed to find out what children respond best to in stories. Quentin taught me a lot about the way children picture themselves in the stories, notice small details in pictures and also respond to realistic and honest works. They want to see themselves as the main character and second guess the storyline. A good story is also something to be revisited; a child will remember and anticipate favourite twists, speech and images. A child can also be highly critical, the implausible will be pointed out, questions and disappointments will be voiced.
Even with the greatest picture books and illustrations, the storyline is the part that most engages the child, especially when it stimulates the imagination and reflection on real life. So without a well thought out narrative, the next chapter won’t be touched and book cast aside. A good story can stay with someone and influence attitudes and behavior over a lifetime, and the book itself can be read time again, and also passed on.
Quentin Blake’s book Zagazoo, both written and illustrated by him is an extremely humorous book about a baby who develops into all sorts of amazing creatures as it grows. It works as a metaphor for how people become needy, emotional and then demanding. Children can laugh at the absurd illustrations of an animal taking the place of a growing person and adults are entertained by the extreme situation the parents find themselves in. The strength of the narrative will grow on the person over a lifetime, as the perspective on life changes.
Matthew Dale /MA Communications, Year One
matthewdale.wordpress.com
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children in cuba… even young lads look into the buggy
children playing chess in santiago de cuba
Children definitely come first in Cuba, I went to creche all day while my parents worked, had all my meals and sleeps there. I remember enjoying it. There are many creches – most people work in Cuba and therefore there are always formal systems for the care of children. People who work get priority and its free, however if you work in tourism because you have access to a higher wage there is a fee. (This is however recent as when I was young it was totally free, but there was less tourism). Children are obviously not affected by consumer culture in Cuba and we just had one football for the whole street. All the children play outside and people are not afraid of something happening to the children. In the holidays everyone went to work on the coffee harvest because it was for the community.
When you walk down the street in Cuba even young lads look into the buggy all interested in your baby and picking them up and cuddling them whenever they are given an opportunity. This also can get annoying when family members, even neighbours feel free to give advice (with the best intentions) on what the children need. Childen are placed very high in society are definitely “seen and heard.” Simple playgrounds are found in even small towns, care starts as early as pregnancy and continues after the child is born and mothers are given one year full salary maternity leave.
Kenny Gonzales and Nina Blodau
Photo by Adam Jones adamjones.freeservers.com
Filed under caring for children around the world
