i remember when i was a kid, my mother would get so mad at me for being too “creative.” she used to think i was a bit more destructive than creative. i once had a National Geographic subscription, but was cancelled because i would cut up the pages to make collages before even reading them. any toy that had electrical elements were eventually dissected and turned into different toys (my dad would always find his soldering gun missing). it was pointless to buy anything expensive or complicated, because it only made it more appealing for experimentation. dolls were just a waste of money because they would be stuck in the back of the shelf facing the wall, hidden behind my stuffed animals because i thought that were too creepy and believed they stared at me while i was sleeping with those all-too-realistic glass eyes.

as i grew up, i took those skills with me and learned how to make things on my own, equip my own toolbox and take pride in knowing how to handle power tools. i also owe my creative process to the days as a kid breaking things apart. understanding how things operate behind the scenes, fixing problems and knowing how to recreate help define my work. but as my friends started having their own daughters i noticed something. all the toys on the shelves were cracked out on pink and glitter, and dedicated to making little girls princesses and nothing else.

one year, a friend was having a birthday party for her daughter that was princess-themed. i remember spending the afternoon standing in the princess aisle of target and i couldn’t bring myself to buy this little girl another princess dress. i stood in that aisle for over an hour mulling over what to do. finally, i ended up walking over to the sports section and found a pair of princess-themed roller skates instead. if i was going to stick to the party theme and buy something that i deemed acceptable, i was going to do it my way. luckily, this little girl was so excited about something that wasn’t a doll or a dress. i was told the next day she immediately wanted to put them on as soon as she woke up.



last year, a toy company debuted called Goldieblox, specializing in toys for girls that broke the stereotype of what a girl’s toy should be. their focus is to inspire young girls to be engineers and build their own toys. the first commercial won me over with these adorable girls who built a Rube Goldberg machine using everything in the house and tons of other toys as mechanisms. during the Super Bowl, they landed an ad spot and showed little girls launching their girlie toys off into space and proving that it’s not all about tea parties and dolls.



another company, CREATABLES, is currently running a Kickstarter campaign for a product named Strawbees, a prototyping toy for adults and kids alike. much like K’nex, but a simpler and cheaper option using straws or any material you might find to build your next creation. i love that toy creators and becoming more aware of how children interact with toys and how they can inspire creativity itself, not just make believe and role playing.



i hope for future generations of adults that these toys will catch on and inspire a new kind of toy market. one that doesn’t sharply define what toys should be for and instead give them new meaning. sometimes it is more important to design for the void instead of what is already there. so build on, little ones. maybe next year i’ll get my friend’s daughter a mini soldering gun.