L-R: BUBBLE EVENT DIRECTOR LINDSAY HOYES; NOOOK FOUNDER TORSTEN SHERWOOD; BUBBLE EVENT MANAGER KATHARINE REVILL
RISING STAR AWARD | WWW.CWB-ONLINE.CO.UK
STAR APPEAL Each season, kids’ trade event Bubble London hosts the Rising Star Award, a competition to determine the show’s best launch brand. The s/s 17 finalists made for an impressive line-up, but it was UK toy brand Noook who won over judges Allison Goodfellow-Ash of WGSN, Scandi Mini’s Gabrielle Spång, Victoria Hampson of Natural Baby Shower and CWB editor Laura Turner. Following the show, Turner catches back up with Noook’s founder, Torsten Sherwood, for more insight into his brand. —
Laura Turner: How would you describe Noook? Torsten Sherwood: Noook is a large-scale construction toy; a kind of ‘archi-toy’ for building things large enough to play inside, such as dens, forts and playhouses. It’s about the open-end, creative-making play experience of a traditional construction toy, but at a scale large enough for children to inhabit. LT: What’s the story behind the brand’s creation? TS: Noook originated from the idea that there is something very special about making things with your hands. It engages the mind and body in a unique way that allows you to think and learn differently. The big inspiration and our benchmark was actually the humble cardboard box. This unintended toy can teach us a lot about designing for children and for play. Although
it’s a little cliched, we can all relate to how a big cardboard box is often far more fun than the over-designed and expensive object inside. There are two simple reasons for this. Firstly, the box is like a giant 3D canvas that children can shape into their own space and there is something special about that play experience. Secondly, and most surprisingly, the cardboard box is not valuable; children can play freely with it without worry. With Noook, we wanted to capture this ethos, yet make it more practical and user-friendly. LT: What’s your design background? TS: While reading architecture at university I became particularly interested in craft and making within design. As a designer, I spend a lot of our time creating sketches, models, mock-ups and prototypes. We do this because when you work physically, you think differently.
I even started designing and making furniture because, unlike architecture, you can really get hands-on involvement at that scale. Due to my interests I was invited to be the Designer and Resident at the Design Museum and asked to produce an exhibition about my ‘making-based approach’ to design. While I’m fascinated with craft and making, I appreciate it’s a pretty dry, even ‘geeky’ topic to most, particularly kids, who happen to be the museum’s biggest audience. So, I had the idea to hide this topic in play and introduce it as a game though a construction toy. After all, construction toys are all about making and building, very literally games in design and making. The exhibition got a lot of positive feedback from schools and parents and since then – as well as completing a masters in architecture – I have been trying to put Noook into production so that we can continue the AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 - 26