Say Hello To Chuppi

I’ve been working on the launch of Chuppi for MATHMOS and glad that I can at last share information about it. As you can imagine I am pretty busy at the moment so apologies for just pasting the press release below.

 

Iconic UK brand MATHMOS have teamed up with graphic art duo TADO to create Chuppi – the perfect interactive child’s nightlight AND an adult’s collectable art toy. The wireless colour changing customizable Chuppi available internationally from the 30^th April at www.MATHMOS.com and is priced at £30 (40EU).

Harnessing almost 50 years of MATHMOS ambient lighting expertise, Chuppi can be set on a single colour or allowed to cycle through the spectrum. He (or she!) will fade off automatically after half an hour, but can also be set to stay alight. Each Chuppi comes with reusable stickers for 18 different characters allowing for full customization. Should you ever tire of your light giving companion you can simply rearrange the stickers. Wirelessly this unique customizable art toy and light lasts for up to 6 hours and you simply place Chuppi on their home to charge.

MATHMOS has a history of creating magical lights with a host of acclaimed designers including Ross Lovegrove, Shin and Tomoko Azumi and El Ultimo Grito. The imaginative work of TADO bringing them to the attention of MATHMOS who felt their style would be a perfect match for their first venture into the art toy market.  Mike and Katie of TADO have also worked with Nike, MTV, Puma, Adidas, Vodafone, Elle Magazine, Star Wars, Selfridges, McDonald’s, Microsoft’s Zune, and Kidrobot. They produce graphics, animation, web design, designer toys and customized cars, and now ambient lighting.

Commenting on the collaboration TADO said:

“The main challenge was coming up with a fun little guy that offered something a little bit different to the customizable toy market. As such we wanted to try and make something that could be used either as it comes, or as a platform to be customized, with the added dimension of it being illuminated. The stickers we created also allow people to have some fun and get creative without having to break out the pens and paints! We worked really closely with MATHMOS to come up with the characters shape and pose, a true collaborative project in every sense of the world and we are delighted with the results.”

MATHMOS invented the lava lamp in 1963 and have kept it in constant UK manufacture since; designing, manufacturing and marketing their own range of award winning branded ambient lights for nearly 50 years. Proud of their long British manufacturing history and of our Queens Award winning exports, they have produced a limited edition lava lamp to commemorate The Queens diamond jubilee.

To read more about the Chuppi click here.

 

Fun for Sleepy Heads

‘Bed Toppings’ are BRILLIANT and really need to start coming in double sizes please. I love all of them and the attention to detail (such as the names of the pencils) is just divine without being too obvious – for example the eraser pillow case not another pencil one.

Designer and business owner Sophie Farquhar always dreamt of sleeping on a piece of toast with a buttered sheet and tin spaghetti doona. This idea has been brought to life in 2011 with the launch of Bed Toppings – Fun for Sleepyheads. All designs are crafted in Australia and feature Sophie’s hand drawn illustrations.

Bed Toppings turn kids beds into giant objects. Other bedding labels sell sheets and doona covers separately. But with Bed Toppings, the whole bed can play dress ups. Each set includes a doona cover, flat sheet, fitted sheet and pillowcase, all made with beautifully soft 100% cotton with 200 thread count.

Harry Potter Babies

Doll artistTracy Ann Lister of Artful Babies (you can’t question the skill involved in making them but really WTF) has created a series of Harry Potter-themed babies which if I am honest scare the hell out of me. It’s nice when I find things like this though as it makes The Edible Autopsy seem positively normal (via @olivia_solon via The Mary Sue)!

 

Baby Voldemort

 

 

Baby Ginny

 

 

Baby Lupin

 

 

Baby Dobby

 

 

Baby Harry

 

Baby Tonks

 

 

 

 

Baby Draco

 

Baby Luna

Animals as lipstick

Really nice & original idea of how to play with your kids on a rainy afternoon – it’s also a good way of managing the little ones expectations of being allowed to ‘play’ with make up as it keeps it on a child’s level (of course it is also just good fun for adults too). These glorious animal lips are from artist Viridis Somino so head to her site for more information. Visit our Facebook page (link top right) to see more images from this set.

(via The Trendy Girl)

Run DMC on Reading Rainbow

As you know I have a soft spot for Elmo celebrity interviews (and GASP even blogger about James Blunt and his appearance once). That said Run DMC on Reading Rainbow is now my absolute favorite piece of “bands do stuff for children”:

After Violent Femmes on Sponge Bob (of course):

Illustrations of nightmares

Well these really are remarkable – a collection of frankly messed up 1970′s illustrations, for CHILDREN’s books, done by artist Gōjin Ishihara (via Pink Tentacle).

Evil clowns for hire

First question how much for the therapy? I also have to say I hate clowns / clown porn yadda yadda yadda… I therefore conclude that the man behind the ‘evil clown’ for hire, Dominic Deville, must be evil. And not of the kind I love (via Nerdcore).

Based in Switzerland, he hires himself out to birthday parties to terrify youngsters – having the brainwave for the idea after watching his favourite horror movies (enough said). The image below shows him dressed up and ready to scare children (this whole thing idea me shudder).

First he contacts ‘victims’ to tell them they’re being watched.

Then he taunts them with texts, phone calls and booby trapped letters warning them that at sometime in their party he’s going to smash a cake into their face. Dominic says:

“It’s all in fun and if at any point the kids get scared or their parents are concerned we stop right there. But most kids absolutely love being scared senseless”

OK so there is being scared, and needing therapy for the rest of your life.

Seriously this is fucking terrifying – I might have to take the valium I have been prescribed (so I can actually get on a plane at the week-end) to get over this dancing clown.

Paperboy

This stuff is INCREDIBLE - Paperboy is a kick arse selection of wallpapers for children – and more specifically boys. How good is this stuff?

(Miss C disclaimer: the comments have gone nuts so can I point out that the “specifically boys” comment comes from Paperboy not me – and I have now added girls as  tag too. Got to rush I have cooking and ironing to do…)

This really is wallpaper for a boy of any age with a sense of humour and an enjoyment of the scary or an attraction to the horrid. Here is the dya-think-e-saurus range:

And here is handmade:

Faking santa

This is easy and effective…

Take a pair boots and dip them in flour or ash to then make Santa’s boot prints going from the fireplace to the Christmas tree, to the plate of Christmas cookies–and then back to the chimney.

(source)

Evil Childrens Toys

Yeah I feel better and what better way to celebrate that with this not massively safe selection of children’s toys from Shi Jinsong