Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology

The Toymakers were a group of 12 Srishti students that explored how to make toys that would engage children's creativity and imagination. The project was led by Anders Sandell, a Finnish artist-in-residence at Srishti.

The project consisted of five modules: frameworks, research, participatory design, prototyping, and exhibit design.

To get a good understanding of play, the Toymakers spent the first couple of weeks reading and discussing what constitutes play and its importance to our psychological well-being. Then, to generate high level design criteria the Toymakers spent time with children to learn about what was important to them. In order to develop concepts based directly on children’s imaginations, the Toymakers conducted a series of workshops with 2nd standard students at Aditi. In these workshops children did drawings about the super-powers they wished they had.

The Toymakers used the children's drawings as a starting point to create ideas for new toy concepts. The designs created range from toys that allow children to express themselves, such as a giant crayon and a kick scooter that deposits trails of colors as it's ridden, to new forms of large kinetic toys, such as swings and seesaws. The class culminated with a 2-day exhibit in November 2008 at 1 Shanthi Road Gallery.