HEART OF GLASSES: Zoobug
IF YOU’VE TRIED unsuccessfully to get your wee ones to wear sunglasses, then you probably haven’t heard of Zoobug.
Zoobug’s founder, 33-year-old Dr Julie Diem Le, the Vietnam-born ophthalmologist who moved to the UK aged four and trained as an eye surgeon, might not have had to do the persuading first hand, but as an aunt to her niece Emma, she’s been known to trawl the shops in search of the best in everything from snowsuits to sunnies.
Which is how Zoobug came to pass. “I was trying to find some suitable sunglasses that had enough UV protection, looked good and could also take the strain of being handled by children,” says Julie. “Since I couldn’t find any, I decided to create them myself. At the time it was an innovative idea to have adult standards of protection in kids’ sunglasses.”
The admission comes as a bit of a shock. But indeed most of us haven’t questioned the quality of cheap plastic highstreet sunglasses too rigorously.
“We’ve become used to buying ‘toy’ sunglasses for kids because there are so many available on the high street,” answers Dr Julie. “But the problem with these types of sunglasses is you can’t be sure they offer the maximum UV protection that complies to stringent international standards. Nor do their lenses necessarily offer optical clarity which means you do not see clearly when you look through the lens. It is only recently that parents have started to be more aware of the variations in quality and the different type of lenses on offer, and I’d like to see much more being done to educate parents about the importance of quality UV protection for their kid’s eyes.”
Posted 23 February 2010 in Products
SIT DOWN: chairs for children
TO COINCIDE with Sit Down, the new V&A Museum of Childhood’s touring exhibition of children’s chairs, we asked child chair expert, collector and exhibition advisor, Molly Price of Molly Meg for her favourite, and lesser known, chairs for kids.
1. I love UK designer Peter Murdoch’s spotty chair from the 1960s. How modern does it look? This chair was incredibly forward-thinking for its use of polyethylene-coated laminated kraft paperboard, and was the first piece of commercial furniture made of paper. It was designed to be assembled at home by simply folding along the pre-scored lines: it’s an icon of the Pop era. Read the rest of this article
Posted 4 February 2010 in Furniture
FURNITURE FOCUS: sebra
MIA DELA IS THE BRAINS behind Sebra - the Danish furniture and accessories design brand with the ever-growing UK and international presence.
35-year-old Mia - mum to Gustav, 7, Alfred, 3-and-a-half, and another on the way - puts this growth down to a universality of aesthetic awareness among the new parenting generation. “Our design has a very Scandinavian feel to it, which luckily many more than just Scandinavians find nice,” says Mia. “And we may be a Danish company, but we are experiencing more and more that products are universal. Children all over the world seem to like many of the same things - animals, nice colours and patterns.” Read the rest of this article
Posted 14 January 2010 in Furniture
TREND: London Town
LONDON’S ICONIC urban design, architecture and skylines still hold massive appeal to designers. We currently love Lulu Guinness’s London-inspired prints on purses and wallets, the Art Deco tube stations and views of Piccadilly Circus that feature on Michelle Mason’s new London Life cushions (below) and her Melamine mugs and trays (the latter a new collaboration with the London Transport Museum). Plus the graphic, illustrated images on Charlene Mullen’s stitched monochrome cushions (pictured left, £110, available from Rockett St George). Add to these the fab new London cut-out paper artwork map poster by Julie Mirabelle of Famille Summerbelle, and the reissued ‘This Is London’ book by ace illustrator Miroslav Sasek, and all you need is Lizzie Allen’s Red Buses & Black Cabs wallpaper (new cushions, £79, in the same print are available from Liberty), to surround your child wtih London-fever before (or after) your next arranged visit… Read the rest of this article
Posted 18 December 2009 in Decor
TOY BOX RULES
THE RATHER BRILLIANT British online lifestyle store Cox & Cox has launched a specialist toy arm, called Toy Box. Modelled “on the little toy shop, that barely exists now on the high street, that is a treasure trove of both beautiful and quirky toys,” Toy Box features the likes of old-fashioned Tiddlywinks sets (pictured below), giant bubble makers, and craft/making sets for boys and girls [such as the Skyrail engineering kit pictured bottom, £33].
We asked its co-founder Michelle Follett Holt - mother to two girls aged 11 and 15, “who are my best product testers and severest critics but who think it is the best job for a mum to have in the whole wide world!” - how to deal with the nightmare that can be living with toys; why we’re all coveting the toys of our childhoods; and what to buy and not to buy for your little ones…
LittleBig: Why do nostalgic / timeless toys of our own childhoods seem to have a renewed relevance and popularity now?
MFH: Parents are naturally more inclined to join in with a game they are familiar with. Many of the retro toys that are having a comeback are great at encouraging family participation which is so important. Most children I think, given the choice, would prefer to play tiddlywinks with Dad than play a new game alone. Traditionally when times are tough people tend to focus more on the past and this comes through even in toys.
LB: What are your personal favourites in the Toy Box collection?
MFH: I love the Dragon Bonz [pictured top, £20]. It is an unusual, funky toy that is great value and it allows the child’s imagination to run wild as they make up a host of scary-looking dragons with the 55 weird and wonderfully shaped pieces that push together. I also adore the Russian Nesting Dolls [pictured right, £22]. They are a gorgeous modern take on the traditional in fabulous fresh colours.
LB: Does it surprise you what toys children pick for themselves?
MFH: Sometimes as adults I think we can over judge toys and might consider them as being unattractive, cheap looking, unproductive, un-educational, etc. Children don’t make this judgement and can love a product just because it is fun and amuses them - just what toys should do! I wasn’t quite sure about our Nellie the Rocking Elephant, £55, at first but every child who saw it, including my way-too-old 11-year-old, sat on it and adored the way you can pull the cord and her trunk comes up and squeeze her ear and she trumpets! Read the rest of this article
Posted 2 December 2009 in Toys
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