It seems fitting to kick off the beginning of the holiday season with a posting about Lego, without doubt our favorite “toy” from childhood. Our first set was inherited from our cousins and over the span of a decade or so that one box grew into several overflowing bins thanks to some very generous parents and extremely indulgent grandparents. While it may be hardly surprising that a series of interlocking blocks would be a particular favorite of budding designers (after all who didn’t like Lego), it was truly one of the most formative creative influences from our childhood. Unlike many other toys that came with a specific context or meaning that you would either embrace or override, a box of Lego was always a blank slate that could be transformed into anything. In our house, the images on the box cover –train, bulldozer, or even spaceship– were rarely created as it was far more fun to transform the pieces into whatever you wanted it to be.
That said, we always got a special thrill from the space series and enjoyed the nostalgic trip through twenty-plus years of space toys, thanks to the folks at i09.com. The Mobile Tracking Station (1978) and Space Shuttle (1979) were two of our favorites.
As you know from some of our earlier posts, space has been on our minds a fair amount this year. We even added Blastoff to our MuuPanel designs for the Ray Collection.
Looking back, given the universal design emphasis underlying the Lego concept, its simplicity, Danish origins, and development in the 1950s and 60s, perhaps it should come as no surprise that we were drawn to mid-century architecture and design –Lego primed us to gravitate towards it long before we had any idea who Eames or Bertoia were. As those overflowing bins have now passed through at least three other generations, it is incredible to think about how many hours of inspiration they’ve already encouraged.
Happy shopping!