Creachair is a design concept for a children’s chair, which will also be their play buddy and help them develop creativity, imagination, motor and tactile skills. Creative expression and tactile stimulation are very important for cognitive and physical development of a child. We were led by the idea to create a product that encourages children to express emotions, practice visual communication and participate with the design process from an early age. Creachairs are an open call for a playful collaboration and exchanging ideas between kids.
Every chair is assembled out of a seat, legs, eyes, teeth and leg covers, all of them in various shapes, colours and materials. Kids of early age can make new and different characters on their own in endless combinations. They will experience many different tactile sensations and ways to co-create a play buddy using velcro, zippers, buttons, clip buttons, laces… Because it is designed to last and be reused, it sends an important message about product sustainability.
The eyes are made from several layers of felt in various shapes and colours. The back side of those shapes is made of velcro, covering the whole surface. This helps the child position the eye patch to its place easily and also detach it by itself, with no help from adults. All those layers of fabric and velcro are sewn together and embroided along the edges. This makes the parts very compact and firm, so they are almost impossible to tear. Another point of child safety is the size and shape of the eyes, as they are designed not to be too small. The chair itself has two permanent eyes, which are made of velcro and serve as guiding position for the eye patches attachment. Those two velcro circles are permanently attached and flushed inside the chair so they appear levelled with the surface.
The teeth are made with the intent to be comfortable to use by kids and in such shapes that would help build interesting characters. Here are shown four variations in shape but there can be many more. The material used is silicone which has many good features for toy parts. It is nice and comfortable to the touch, it has a great grip so it is very easy to attach to the designated position on the chair. Both the teeth and the grooves on the chairs are simple and symmetrical and there is no wrong way of attaching them.
Some leg cover designs include different types of fasteners suitable for children of young age. They can help practice motor skills and solving problems. There can be many kinds of laces, zippers, snap fasteners, buttons… The leg covers with fasteners can be placed from the side and the ones without them are placed by sliding from the bottom up.
The choice of different texture of materials helps tactile stimulation to be more sensational. The whole experience can be enriched with stuffings, outstanding textile designs and unusual materials.
There are endless possibilities in creating different characters. Here are shown few of them using the same base. Kids can play alone or can create together with their parents. With a wide variety of material options you can get fuzzy, furry, scary, silly or all of the above. Creachair is also suitable for use by larger groups of kids, for instance in kindergarden, playroom, library, etc…
All parts could be bought separately in stores or online.
Prototype photo credit: Marko Petrović. Thank you for these great shots!
