Stack and Scare by Invisible Creatures. From Product to Packaging, Blocks Don't Get Much Cooler Than These.

Over a year in the making, Stack And Scare™ is a new series of 4 stackable wooden monster block sets designed by Invisible Creature and produced by the coolest toy blocks store ever, Uncle Goose.



Each of the four sets contains 14-18 pieces in various shapes and sizes. Featuring eyeballs, teeth, horns, arms, rounded shapes for shoulders and eyes, monster heads, hands, feet, legs, torsos, patterns and more. Mix and match shapes or combine with other Stack And Scare™ sets to unleash endless (and taller) creature combinations!

The Products:









How They Are Made:


The Packaging:




Beautifully and meticulously crafted by the folks at Uncle Goose in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the blocks are made from FSC certified basswood, using non-toxic inks.

The Commercial:
The folks over at Invisible Creature thought it would be fitting to create a short “IC Filmmercial” featuring their wooden critters in action, so they enlisted their friends in Portland, Beautiful Eulogy, to create a score using the blocks themselves and the result is pretty fantastic:


You can purchase Stack And Scare™ directly from the designers , from Uncle Goose or independent toy stores everywhere.

Two Brothers Create An Elegant New Toy You'll Want To Steal From Your Kids: My Wooden Horse.

Brothers Netta and Avner Shalgi set out to create a simple, handmade, durable, eco-friendly wooden toy that would combine nostalgia and creativity - and they have succeeded. Now using kickstarter for funding, My Wooden Horse is a beautifully designed functional pull or push toy for children that is also a keepsake in an era when toys lose their shelf life in a matter of years.

Uber Stylish Backgammon Set by Arik Ben Simhon and Ben Frankforter.

This lovely, easy-to-carry, modern backgammon set crafted of oak with wooden playing pieces comes in a self-contained case of either wood or a flocked finish.





Photos © Ori Ackerman

Price $440
Buy it here

Alphabet Factory Blocks From House Industries and Uncle Goose.

Beautiful handmade wooden blocks from Uncle Goose are inspired by the original House Industries factory logo and feature a selection of letters, numbers and symbols from House's renowned font collections. The 31 interlocking blocks are made in the USA from replenishable Michigan-grown, kiln-dried basswood and printed with non-toxic, lead-free child-safe inks.





Like all products from House Industries and Uncle Goose, the blocks come in beautiful keepsake packaging and are the kind of blocks that will fascinate children and adults alike.




Compatible with all human neurosensory systems and powered by finger oil, children's mucus and a love for learning, the Factory Blocks do not require batteries, software updates or hand wringing over obsolescence.

24 1.75" cubes (44mm)
Ages 3+



Alphabet Factory Blocks, $70 USD
buy them here or here

Traditional Children's Toys With A Modern Twist From Sweden.

above image by Jakob Fridholm for Family Living Magazine

Acne JR is a Swedish toy company based in Stockholm that designs traditional and iconic children toys with a modern twist. Part of the Acne family that makes fashions and advertising, the children's toys are thoughtfully created, from the materials to the packaging, each toy is influenced by design and fashion and is beautiful in its simplicity.








The lovely and smple black and white packaging:



Shop their online store here

Acne JR is part of the Acne Family company group, founded in 1996, which works within design, media and fashion. More info at acne.se

Acne JR
Box 4220
102 65 Stockholm
Sweden
+46 736 99 99 07
info@acnejr.com
facebook.com/acnejr

100 Wooden Toy Cars By 100 Different Designers: TobeUs

Matteo Ragni has gathered together 100 masters of design from all over the world including Karim Rashid, Marcel Wanders, Barber Ogersby, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Jaime Hayon, Fabio Novembre and Setsu & Shinobu Ito to name but a few. With these globally renowned designers and the support of Alessi, Ragni created “100% TobeUs: 100 designers for 100 new toy cars.”

Jason Freeny Launches His First Mass Marketed Designer Toys: CAPSLS

One minute you're an unknown artist working on a quirky new project; the next you’re being named Clutter Magazine’s Breakthrough Artist of 2011. Suddenly you've got an army of avid Facebook fans following your every move and your pieces are selling for $10,000 each. So where do you go from there?



For Jason Freeny, who made his name by dissecting toys, the answer was fairly obvious. This week Freeny launched his very own line of designer toys; CAPSLs.


above: Freeny began designing his CAPSLs way back in 2009

CAPSLs are super-durable, interactive keychains with pocket-sized personality and just enough space to store your smallest goodies, like candies, mints, “prescriptions”-- whatever it is that keeps you going.


“For my first line of designer toys, I wanted to add function” Freeny says. “ Everything else out there is all about form, but CAPSLs are actually useful too. And I wanted to add a 4th dimension, since so much of what I do focuses on what’s inside; CAPSLs let you go inside and actually use that space to store things.”



The first series of CAPSLs features 12 original designs ranging from sweet (Flower Bomb) to zany (Frog Squid). Tops and bottoms create an airtight seal, and they’re interchangeable, so you can mix and match with more than 100 combinations.



Artist Jason Freeny Shows Us Once Again; It's What's Inside That Counts
CAPSLs (series one) includes: • 3 Eyed Squid • 40 Watt • Bones & Band-Aids • Brain Monster • Daily Dose • Flower Bomb • Frog Squid • Happy Pill • Frog Squid • Peace Bomb • Shark Bomb • Spray Bomb • Squid Monster • Medicine Man (limited edition 300 available)








above: the Medicine Man CAPSL is limited to 300 editions


FCTRY/Jailbreak Collective: Based in Brooklyn, FCTRY is an independent product design company specializing in creative applications of mass production.

In addition to the original 12, several special limited edition CAPSLs will be released over the next few weeks.

Buy CAPSLs