As a toy designer who focuses on high-quality and often hand-carved toys (for his company Kiko+), Toshitsugu Fujiwara was inspired to create the modular “BLOCTOOL” units, when he decided to experiment with different ways to bring the joy and creativity of experimenting with toy block designs to modular furniture.
The “BLOCTOOL” set consists of large meter-high interlocking pieces that seem to have borrowed inspiration from Tetris, Space Invaders and Jenga blocks. The unit sizes are of convenient height to make the various formations friendly to form either a reading chair, table, stool, staircase or booktable. When combined, multiple units can be combined to even form a large table or benches.
When operating—or should I say, playing with the unit—the pieces had a convenient size, and despite the heft to the wood, they’re easy enough to rearrange and restyle in various patterns. They come in three large, interlocking shapes: a small black rectangular block, a blue cubic-donut with two jutting-out elements, and a red cubic-donut that looks like a three pronged European electrical plug.
The Famo (standing for FAther and MOther) website aptly describes the BLOCTOOLS as “sophisticated and playful furniture for adults,” who are intended to “enjoy playing with blocks freely to enrich their own private space.” The units are designed to be able to reconfigure quickly and simply to meet various scenarios around the household.
Initial designs for the prototype were displayed at the “MaisonD’objet” exhibition in Paris in 2010. Fujiwara’s toys are self-designed, manufactured and carved in China and Vietnam, and then sold across Europe, via a distributor based in the Netherlands.
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