Kids'Stuff 2003
Tableware, Glasses & Cutlery
Iittala, Finland
Kids'Stuff was one of my favourite projects of the last few years. It allowed me to look back at my own childhood and develop more awareness. Children are smarter than we think and I have always looked at them as small adults. Designing for children is not about making a piece of cutlery 20% smaller or gluing a cartoon figure on the handle. It is also not about applying childish fantasies. For me, it is finding the playful element in each component, subliminally integrating a function, asking a question through the use of relief, offering some security with the silhouette or making it simple to cut up food with a knife whose teeth are carefully designed to do the job. To give a second chance by consciously planning the edge of the plate, or to easily dispose of something unexplainable from the body. I hope that one day an adult comes to me and says: «Your Kids'Stuff Set is one of my favourite childhood memories». But that only shows how important this project was to me.