Functioning Lego greenhouse

“This fantastic greenhouse made entirely of Lego bricks was just unveiled at the 2011 London Design Festival. Designed by Sebastian Bergne, it is made up of around 100,000 Lego bricks. All parts of the greenhouse are made from Lego elements, including, reportedly, the “earth,” which would seem to imply that the very real vegetables growing inside are sustained hydroponically.”

(via MAKE)

How cool is this! Real stuff made of toys

MF, studio, dbda

dbda encourages parents to keep their children safe during the summer holidays

With the summer holidays upon us, dbda is encouraging parents to remind their children about the dangers on the road and in the home.

According to a June 2010 survey on behalf of the Child Accident Prevention Trust, while almost three-quarters of parents worry about their child having a bad accident nearly half believe there is nothing they can do to stop accidents from happening.

Pop and Lolli wall decal

Pop & Lolli make beautiful BIG illustrated wall decals that are totally removal and repositionable. I think they are lovely, and there is such a wide range of themes and characters.

Website is rather cute and quirky too – have a “nest” to add items to rather than a basket. Sweet idea.

MF, studio, dbda

 

 

Bob Geldof supports Decade for Action with The Children’s Traffic Club

Marking the start of the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020, this video features the aims of this initiative, with Bob Geldof KBE highlighting the contribution of The Children’s Traffic Club.

UK ‘continues to fail children on wellbeing’

The UK continues to be among the worst performing developed countries for children’s wellbeing, according to Save the Children.

The charity’s annual ‘State of the World’s Mothers’ report ranks the UK among the bottom half of developed countries at 23 in the world, in its children’s index which is based on pre-school and school enrolment as well as under-five mortality rates. While pre-primary school enrolment is 100 per cent in France, Germany and Netherlands the UK’s rate is just 81 per cent.

Save the Children’s chief executive Justin Forsyth said: “We know that pre-school nursery or playgroup access helps all children but especially the poorest. It is a national embarrassment that the UK lags so far behind other countries of a similar size and wealth.”

Timbuktu iPad magazine for kids

Timbuktu is the first iPad Magazine for Kids. Download it from the App Store.

It is the first iPad based magazine specifically designed for children and combines imagination and technology to engage youngsters in news and stories centered around interesting topics. With a bold and brave graphic style and clear and focused interaction design, Timbuktu is on the cutting edge of educating kids in a fun and informative way.

A very interesting interview with Art Director Olimpia Zagnoli about the magazine can be found here!

View demo here.

MF, Studio, dbda

Between Page and Screen

Between Page And Screen is an augmented-reality book of poems. Interesting!

MF, Studio, dbda

Bringing toys to life

Came across this set of Toy Photography on Phototuts+ and thought how beautiful (mostly) they were. Could be a lovely animation style to make a character model and shoot it in real world settings!

MF, Studio, dbda

The Children’s Traffic Club appears in the METRO

An article about dbda’s award winning The Children’s Traffic Club was published March 9th in the London METRO Newspaper.  The article commends Transport for London (TfL) who ‘thanks to funding’ can provide The Children’s Traffic Club FREE to all 3 to 4 year olds living in a London borough. Since The Club began in 2003, over ¼ million London children have received these life-saving messages.

The Club has already played a huge part in helping to reduce the number of children killed or seriously injured in London by 72% since the late 1990s, which is why TfL is committed to providing the scheme throughout capital.

nr1977 by MihaDesign

Naoto Mitsumoto and Naoko Hamana of architectural studio MihaDesign were asked to renovate an old apartment that was constructed in 1957. Working within the confines of a 2-bedroom, 770 sq ft (71.5 sq mt) apartment, the designers were asked to propose a solution for the owners – a husband and wife with 4 kids – who desperately needed to come up with a creative use of the limited space.

photos by Sadao Hotta

The result is nr1977 (2010), a design which converts the 2 rooms into 1 but replaces the wall with 2 large boxes. What is special about these boxes is that they house partitioned beds for the children in one box and a bed for the husband and wife in the other.