The two of Han Ayumi( landscape architect) and Shunji Yamanaka (Industrial Designer) took up this toy for this exhibition.

Ms. Han says “ Madmug is suitable for making up such firm structures as architectural objects and polygons. I wanted, however, to compose smooth and organic curved lines like those of cloths and landscapes, taking this toy’s nature in unexpected ways.’ Through the trials and errors, she finally succeeded in creating a series of objects that give us the image of multiplying virus in 30 stainless cases. The stainless cases make a mirror-like effect, which makes her work look like such a mystic and organic object as a kaleidoscope.

Mr. Yamanaka says “I’ve been engaged in a lot of design works with the idea of how we can bestow concrete forms to most advanced technologies.” In this exhibition, he tried to represent ‘Multiplying Madmag’ with the use of special computer software. The spherical object he presented for this exhibition was an example of such an attempt. The special software he used was named ‘Magrid’, which could be a proposition that infinitely broadens the playful imagination of adults.

The last construction toy I introduce here is ‘Baufix’ produced by Lorenz Co. in Germany. This toy is composed of screws, nuts and boards with holes, which are all made of wood. By inserting screws and nuts into the holes of the boards that vary, you can enjoy making various forms from flat ones to solid ones. Motomi Kawakami(Product Designer) and Katsuhiko Hibino (Artist) took up this toy for this exhibition.

Mr.Kawakami made his own boards with holes. By combining them with the bolts and nuts that come with this toy, he made a toy box. “When I was small, I was always told by my mother to put the toys away.” He says he got a unique idea of making a toy box using parts of a toy. Depending on how you combine them, you can also make such simple furniture as simple shelves and tables. His presentation shows us the enjoyable nature of the play equipment by using its parts for making simple furniture.

Mr.Hibino, made several objets d’art with his free imagination as an artist. His works, though they were created by means of using the standard parts of Baufix and by adopting a certain consistent rule in composing them, show us that the finished works can be seen differently depending on the view-points of those who see them. We can say that such is the very approach of an artist, I felt. We adults tend to try to find the meaning of our activities in something completed or something useful. The intrinsic nature of ‘play’ is something that we are absorbed in without any clear purposes. In this sense, Mr.Hibino’s work may be most close to the pure nature of ‘play’.

The important thing is that adults can share the time with kids in which they together are absorbed in playing with something, whether they are still in the process of rearing the kids or not. With nice play equipments, the time for playing will certainly be more wonderfully significant. I believe that the catch-copy phrase you may know ‘ Memories are more precious than things.’ tells us something very true.