Monday, November 1st
For this second workshop, we had three participants: Yasin, Lewis and Omar (8 years old).
Omar is actually Yasin’s brother.
The work started immediately. They were extremely excited with the second session. We were happy about their positive attitude: motivation, enthusiasm and interest seem to be essential for creation.
We have chosen to divide the workshop in two parts: half an hour of three dimensional mock-ups and another thirty minutes of sketches.

• The 3 dimensional objects

As a brief, we had in mind to ask them to concentrate on tools, as we did during the previous workshop. We asked them to invent something to reproduce beautiful circles, as they all have some difficulties to draw perfectly round rings.

Omar, the oldest of the group, has created this instrument that vacuums ink and acts as a stamp to print some disk shape. A handle was integrated, to make it functional and easy to use. Designer Omar has also cut out a round piece of sponge to control the flow and to enable the colourful liquid to spread out regularly.

Like his neighbour, Lewis made a stamp, but this time, with two disks. According to him, you can make more disks than Omar. He was inspired by the fountain pen he uses everyday at school. The mechanism creates suction to transfer ink directly through the pipe into the Ink reservoir.

The youngest boy, Yasin, made a ring out of clay, to create ‘Os’. We believe it is dedicated to his older brother Omar. He also shaped some round smooth pebbles to steer his pencil in the good direction.
Yasin is the youngest, but he is the only one who can make the difference between a disk and
a circle.


• Sketching
Hina asked them to imagine a seat as something that could support their young and light bodies
and on which they could rest. They started drawing.


"The power behind the throne"

Omar has drawn a Throne. He did not really use the world Throne, but he described his design as an extraordinary chair that would give him power, authority and dignity. Ahhhhhhhhh...it is the reason why he drew a crown, we thought. He also added some limbs, such as arms, hands and legs. As the name suggests, an Armchair needs Arms. But, we believe the hands were a bit more unusual. We first thought they were cup holders. No, according to the designer, they are part of the design and they are here to prevent him from leaving his powerful spot: the hands are shaking other hands and are opening the doors. The legs are also very important as they transport King Omar from Place to place. Yes, the throne walks and acts as a vehicle.


"Lounging in the air"

Lewis has imagined a Lounge chair with a massive back rest where he could lean back and relax.
To him, it is crucial to have an extra piece to have his legs supported. The chair is adjustable: the part for the feet can be folded under the sit if not in used and the back rest is retractable. Lewis Lounge chair can be employed as an ideal setting for a quick nap or as a reading area. But one of its additional qualities is to have integrated wings that can obviously fly and take the designer for a sky ride.

"Rodeo bicycle"

Yasin seems to be interested in wheels. He keeps on drawing them. This time, He has sketched some kind of bike that could project him in the sky. His concerns were to create a device that he could seat on while moving forward. But more than anything, the main function of the RB is to enable Designer Yasin to rebound and to reach the clouds.

And then, after the furniture production, we suggested them to imagine a hat, to match with the shoes designed during our previous workshop.

"Crowned head"

Omar has represented a top hat with a crown on the top. It fits with his chair and with his interest in royalty. He needs the complete outfit!

"Pit-bull hat"

Lewis is fascinated by monstrous creatures and needs to translate this obsession in his designs.

He is interested in security. It is why he has drawn this freaking hat, to defend himself in case of attack as a molosser would do.


"This is for men, This is for ladies"

Yasin has a wide imagination, but he draws very small objects for his very small body. He has scribbled down a mini Tam o' Shanter beret as a kind of mix between the Scottish cap and the French bonnet.
That is for men, he said. For the lady, he has imagined a pink eared bowler hat, to listen to the gossips when it is cold.

The designers of this second Marveland session: Omar (8 years old), Lewis and Yasin

First Marveland Workshop

Thursday 21st of October, from 4.30 to 5.30.

We had three children attend our primary workshop: Yasin (5), Jon (7) and Lewis (7).
We prepared a couple of briefs to see how the children would react.
Instead of giving the kids a large and abstract brief, we asked them to create everyday life objects that they see and use all the time. We had in mind that kids have a wide imagination: they never reproduce reality. They have no notion of proportion and no design concern at these ages.

We put a bloc of clay on the table:
We asked them to create a plate to serve their favourite food, knowing that the result would never looks like a usual plate, but would obviously tell a story: their marvellous stories.

Yasin had some difficulties in being able to grab the clay. It was too hard for his micro hands. He is very young and probably too little to build things. He took some papier mache and built an ‘apple plate’, why not?

Jon and Lewis have both created a small ‘tray’ with clay, to serve the Sunday Roast. According to them, the reason the plates were so small was to welcome a little amount of food: there were designed for miniature appetite and for children’s stomach.


We have also suggested them to invent an object to support the cutlery and to avoid stains on the table after food.

Yasin has created a sausage out of clay and has stuck the fork, knife and spoon into it. This object was accomplished through a complete instinctive and compulsive gesture.

Jon has modelled some mats for each piece of cutlery. After the meal, the user will display its dinner service on their appropriate spot.

Lewis has wrapped fork, knife and spoon together with clay, to create a cutlery nest.


Then, we finished by asking them to design a glass.

Jon is apparently fascinated by dream catchers and explained us that his glasses were only made for rich people of Jonland.

Lewis was interested in creating a magic volcano glass that could erupt at anytime. Water would flow when the user became thirsty.

Yasin has drawn a water bubble that does not need to be filled up. The water is enclosed inside and stays there, for life. We imagine that if the user is thirsty, they will make a hole inside or smash the object to rich the precious liquid.


To introduce a new subject, we asked them to design a shoe. We spread some markers on the table and encouraged them to draw their designs.
They were all inspired by the animal world: each shoe has a tong, to swallow the dirt of the pavement, but also for self-cleaning. Good point: useful and sustainable.

Jon has drawn some legs, underneath the sole. We suppose he was inspired by roller skates. But the good thing with the legs is that the wearer does not have to walk: the shoes walk for him.

Lewis has actually created a fishshoe that can clean in front of the wearer (using the tongue) and behind (using the tail) the user. He has also imagined a Chimera female shoe, inspired by the mythology (dragon) and the middle-ages (spiral point). The heal has claws that can scratch anything such as men, women or bad dogs.

Yasin has drawn an axe-rainbow pair of shoes, with an integrated sock.

The Designers:

Lewis (7 years old),  John ( 7 years old) and Yasin (5 years old)