Sustainable toys - Planet Obos

I stumbled upon Obos looking through the most recent Toy Fair blogs and I have to say, they are awesome. I am a big fan of the vinyl toy market and simplistic style and Obos would fit in perfectly. They are paper toys with interchangeability features. The simplistically clever packaging is a catalyst to the toy experience. Just pull a tab on the underside and begin to unfold the joy. As you remove the packaging in one simple pull, the figure opens up and reveals its components. The figures come with a variety of limbs and extremities that snap onto the core of the character. You can collect more of the Obos and use each others parts to mix and match to create your very own unique Obos! 

Among the eclectic and bright characters there is one other reason why this product stands out to me. That is the sustainability. The Obos are made from FSC certified paper and recycled paper along with being 100% recyclable. The simplistic and minimal packaging lessens its footprint on the world. As a toy designer I have always appreciated products that achieve simplistic and environmentally effective means. It is not easy designing products with those things in mind. There are constant obstacles and limitations with sustainable materials. Like most things, limitations are constantly pushed everyday. I feel that the more businesses try and force sustainability into their design and production processes, the evolution of recyclable and environmentally friendly materials can provided just as many options as the current more popular materials used today. So check out Planet Obos and appreciate the genius behind this simple paper toy.

Find out more at: Planet Obo

Sketches - 3/12/13

I haven't sketches like this in a while. Just let my hand go free and doodle. No concept, no motives. Just evolving shapes the form into the thing in my head. Good fun and very therapeutic! Enjoy :)

#025 Pikachu - Poke'drawl

I was pretty excited to have Pikachu pop-up from the random generator. I was expecting my friends to get it before me but I am very glad it fell onto me! Who doesn't love Pikachu? For me drawing Pikachu in my style makes it even more lovable because it is such a over-saturated Pokemon. Pikachu is pretty much the mascot of Pokemon and redesigning it is refreshing. I had tons of fun with this one! I wanted them to show that they were "too good" to be put in a Pokeball. 

#080 Slowbro - Poke'drawl

Slowbro is a pretty awesome Pokemon. Well, he is really 2 Pokemon in one! Shellder (I think it is) on his tail is what makes a Slowpoke evolve into Slowbro. If the Shellder is removed then he "de-evolutionizes" back to Slowpoke. This is a pretty cool symbiosis but with my Slowbro he gets sick of dealing with it and would rather be a Slowpoke than to deal with parasitic Pokemon. 

Cool story Slowbro?