Wood !!! Toys !! Another time maybe but !! exciting

I've been researching wooden forms and toys recently - Its definitely something I'm interested in in the future - tactile making - working directly with materials - hands on - craft and learning.
How can my work translate into 3D - how can working in 3D affect the way I make work and think about form and shape ?

I had a laser cut induction and it was really fascinating - (made some wooden business cards which was fun - link)
I wanted to make some William Accorsi inspired slotting puzzles - my stories happen one on top of the other in layers of the earth/sky - would be really interesting to see how I could translate my ideas into this - stackable, buildable - like the building and forming of the weather.
But alas I didn't get a chance to do this before uni closed up.

Booked myself an induction into woodwork - was interested to see if I could make some basic wooden forms - but the induction was really odd - it was basically a twilight top up for fine art students who just kept questioning why I was there - didn't really get taught how to use the machines - he just gave me a drill and told me to build a bridge. Was a pretty good bridge to be fair - but I shelved my idea of making anything wooden for this project.

Anyway - joy in nostalgia - joy in tangible physical objects. I want to make STUFF not just things to exist on a screen. I want to make the idea and hold the thing

Some wooden toys and makers I've been researching:


Shape Maker

This is the first toy by British toy designers Miller&Goodman. Their ethos is to create beautifully, sustainably designed toys designed to stimulate the imagination - no instructions provided in the boxes.

From their website:

"Look around you – everything you can see is made out of shapes.

Shapemaker was our first toy, and continues to be our best seller. We set out to make a toy that was timeless, that would never go out of fashion. ShapeMaker is a set of 25 colourful, hand printed blocks made of sustainable rubber wood. The blocks can be arranged to create a menagerie of surprising creatures – there are countless engaging images you can produce. We include design suggestions, but we hope that Shapemaker inspires you to create your own. We imagine Shapemaker as an endless jigsaw puzzle without a solution. Let your imagination run free!"

Believe it or not before I came across this on the internet, I had an idea of painting wooden off cuts (my dads been building a bus stop shelter in the garden) with motifs and shapes from my explorations this project to see what new things could be created (almost like the poem building exercises I did). This was another of my over ambitious ideas that I get excited about but don't actually have the time for, but its a nice idea to dive back into when the times right!

I love the ShapeMaker - it feels like something timeless from the 60s - the breadth of combinations from just 25 blocks is brilliant - I'd love to have a go!

William Accorsi

I think this guy is a bloody genius.
Stackable slottable sex sculptures. brilliant

Theres something nostalgic in the bookend type visual language of them.. but with a lot more knobs.

From his website: "He visited an art museum for the very first time during his sophomore year and it was in that museum that the the god of art first spoke to him–at least that is what he says–and the god of art told him to go forth to add, subtract, multiply, but never divide… and create all things to reflect the divinity of life."




i feel like Mr Bingo probably owns one of these





Joaquin Torres Garcia

Naivety in rough raw shapes. so charming.
How can I break down something into simple, recognisable 3D form.
Learning through play 

"The exhibition demonstrates that in fact they represent a new direction in his research bringing the three dimensional realm into his painting. They are a very personal interpretation of the idiom of relief and pure abstract form. On one hand they relate by their rough look and in some cases an animistic aura to primitive art, but they also embody the geometric and constructivist idiom, that characterizes Torres-García’s dilemma: his reluctance to let go of the art of the past for a total embrace of the present." -https://literalmagazine.com/constructing-abstraction-with-wood-joaquin-torres-garcia/


"Torres-García observed his 4 children at play, and seeing that they broke their toys to learn how they functioned, he realized that they didn’t answer the child’s need to learn playing. He designed toys in parts that could be interchanged and became so involved with their creative and didactic possibilities that he teamed with a carpenter to produce toys which he called “art toys,” and created the Alladin Company. "









Isidro Ferrer


Ideas
Hands
Craft
Tactile genius
Ideas Ideas Ideas.
Sketchbooks
Exhaustive
New materials always
Taking a character and running with it - where can I take this and how can I exhaust its meaning and its function

He's great







This is a real gem of a video.



Charlie Willeto

Charlie Willeto was a Najavo sheepherder and traditional medicine man - and creator of wonderful wooden treats!! He began carving in the 60s - only 4 years before his death.

The charm in these carvings and the expressions really make me smile - you can tell that this was a maker who really enjoyed in his craft and it brought him joy.

 "He broke with traditional taboos against carving sacred images into wood, and created dreamlike men, women, owls, and spiritual creatures from old pieces of pine. The Willeto family believes that Charlie started to carve after he saw a “skinwalker,” a witch who could transform herself into an animal, and many of his pieces are inspired by this vision (“Navajo Folk Art Finding its Niche,” The Denver Post, 1996"

"Charlie Willeto was a Navajo medicine man trained in the ancient art of the illness doll—a ritual figure employed to draw sickness and suffering away from a human victim. In the last four years of his life, Willeto subverted the tradition of the illness doll, making some 400 figures that drew on this tradition, but carefully sidestepped the taboo of keeping these ceremonial figures within the realm of the living. His art worried tribal leaders at first, but soon he became recognized as a healer and artist of great vision and power." http://www.kohlerfoundation.org/preservation/major-collections/charlie-willeto/