Famille Summerbelle

Ringo, cardboard fold up crafts

Ringo is a young design studio based in Warsaw in Poland. They make the most beautiful cardboard toys that I know of. I love the colours and the graphics for each category that have designed: Paper Town 1, 2 and 3 and how cute is the new The Animals set!
I also love the fact that it requires some imagination and patience to fold and create each piece and it can be folded after playing to store or take away in a bag to a friend's house.
Paper Town 1:


Paper Town 3:


The Animals:

Kukkia

Yesterday Simon and I went to visit the trade show Maison & Objet in the north of Paris. I'll show you a selection of some of my favourite things I saw over the next few days.
Kukkia is a Japanese brand who makes very cute and colourful wooden toys. You can buy them on their website or on Kids on Roof.

Count the stars...

Cars with wind up mechanism.

On the left: 2 chalkboards to draw parkinglots, houses, cars, people and animals
+ the wooden pieces: 6 trees, 3 houses, 2 hills, 1 car, 2 traffic lights. A true mix of 2D and 3D that kids just love!
On the right: Gatcha Gatcha sweets machine.

Rainbow toy cars

Artist David T Waller used 2500 toy cars to create this stunning round rainbow. My little Lucien would go crazy in front of all these cars!

via Plenty of colour.

The poo poo hut

La Cacabane sounds much nicer in French! A funny short cut name (caca=poo, cabane= hut) for a place to play and be private. Check this little cartoon video to see where the idea came from. Designed by French company Pirouette Cacahouète.
Maybe I should get one to start potty training Lucien, but I think he would only be interested to open and close the door over and over again (that's his big thing at the moment).

Seen on Luvaville.

Have a nice weekend

and enjoy the snow. We'll be decorating the Christmas tree this weekend. I bought it last night, it's lovely and big and it will be standing in the alcove between our kitchen and the living room.


I love this photo seen on Milk blog. It's from the house of Imps & Elfs owner Fons Cohen. I really like the massive shelf and the idea that you can just leave the Playmobil on display.

Dollhouse

I'm always very excited when I see a nice dollhouse. I think it's because I've made a lot of models when I used to be a set designer. I'd love to get hold of the Gotland Summer house, or the Stockholm modern house with the pool hidden in a draw for Ophelia (or for me!). From Lundby.

As seen in Pirouette.

Marilyn Neuhart

Dolls by Marilyn Neuhart. Originally designed in 1959, these dolls were popular items at Girard's Textile & Objects Shop in Manhattan during the 60's. Hand sewn by the artist herself, each doll is unique and sold exclusively by MaXimo.

My top 10 cardboard toys

We bought Ophelia a cardboard house by Nume when she was around 2. We wanted a little house that was stylish and simple enough to sit in a corner of our living room. We loved the fact that 1.you can fold it when it's not in use, 2. you can customize it and 3. it's white:) 4. it's very easy to build 5. it's recyclable.
These are the other cardboard toys on my list for her future birthdays...

1. Dolls house with 5 rooms and lovely retro furniture by Green Lullaby.
2. Class room with lots of small accessories by Petit Colin.
3. Children's farandole to decorate your room by Zoe de las Cases.
4. Tree by Kidsonroof
5. Cardboard house by Kidsonroof.
All of the above products are available at Madame la Marchande.
6. Cardboard House by Nume.
7. Washing machine by Nume.
8. Archi Maison by Carton chic.
9. Office desk and bench by Green Lullaby.
10. Foldable screen by Corraini.
All of the above products are available on Little Circus (apart from the desk and bench available at Madame la Marchande).