Saturday

Child-friendly design

When I think of the word “design” my mind tends to wander to chic, classy decorated apartments. The kind that get showcased in architectural magazines, with sleek lines and strong colors. Somehow I never associate children with that image. In fact, most people probably wouldn’t. But that keeps us from enjoying the wide world of children’s design. In my personal opinion, some children provide the best of inspiration; who better to seriously play with colors and throw a little spontaneity into an otherwise regulated world? And don’t we all want something beyond our white and black adult lives? To remind you of how great children’s design can be, even for your own adult world, here are some of my favorite recent designs.

Olli & Lime

British firm Olli & Lime is everything that you could want from a company that makes children’s products: fun, safe and ethical. Their bedding is made out of a 80% bamboo/20% cotton mix, and their tempting wallpapers, with everything from crazy cows to striped moose, are digitally printed upon order meaning less waste of paper.

Frank & Stanimira Rafaschieri

If you have children, going fashionable can be equated with heavy spending. Fortunately Frank & Stanimira Rafaschieri came up with the Evolutionary Chair and Low Hygiene Table. Think of them as furniture puzzle pieces. The pieces can both grow with the child and be converted for multiple uses, the ultimate in any children’s product.

Miriam Bereson

Miriam Bereson is a husband and wife team based out of Melbourne, Australia that designs helpful wall calenders to encourage children to do their chores, but also a funky line of magnets that are sold with a gift card.

Marimekko

The famed Finnish design firm isn’t just for adults; their playful designs translate well with a line of children’s products that range from bibs to aprons.

Adriene Gardere

Children love animals, and French designer Adriene Gardere knows that they love to see playful versions of them in their rooms. Therefore he created his entertaining animal wall stickers which are placed around electrical outlets. Using the outlets as part of the animal the stickers are a pretty great way to spice up an otherwise boring — or even ugly — part of a room.

Modernseed

What can I say? I would have loved Modernseed’s furniture as a child. Their pieces look more like candy than the uber- functional products that they really are. And that funky flower looking piece? Those are chairs. Enough said.