Kids Forever

Published on November 9, 2007

 "Kids can't use the same kinds of furniture as adults," says Nimon Kittitanaphan, design director and the owner of i-deal Kids.

The company makes furniture and wall decorations specifically for children aged nine months to five years. All are designed for an "edu-tainment" purpose with a strict focus on safety. Lightweight, easily moveable and versatile, the furniture is built up from sponge and moulded polyester, instead of hard material, then covered with fabric that is safety-rated for children.

Key product series are Animals, Geometrics and Favourites. The Animals series aims to transform kid-friendly critters into lively objects that can be played with. There's also "Jigzoo", an animal-shaped jigsaw floor puzzle.

For more information, call (02) 957 5388 or see    www.m-ideal.net

The almighty YOD

Joining the ranks of collectible action figures like Be@rbrick and Kubrick comes a high concept "art toy" called YOD, designed by talented British illustrator, James Jarvis.

Jarvis says he chose the name YOD because he loves the sound and the meanings it might have. For example, the term YOD relates to God in the Hebrew Bible while in the 1970s there was Father Yodm who was a psychedelic rock guru from California. Jarvis will no doubt be impressed to know that in Thai, "yod" means "superb"!

Created in 2005, the potato-shaped character is more than just another vinyl toy of pop culture. Despite the simple look, Jarvis has imbued YOD with a personality and classic cartoon feel. YOD is produced in limited number, available in six different colours. He is priced at around Bt2,000.

There will be YOD T-shirts coming soon. You can buy YOD at its online store www.store.amostoys.com. And, there's a YOD community at MySpace (www.myspace.com/g

reatyod) and in a handmade fanzine called 'YODzine'.

The Thing

The term "thing" has many meanings, but for San Francisco-based artists Will Rogan and Jonn Herschend, "The Thing" is a subscription service that delivers art objects. In a word, a mail-order art project.

Not a gallery, and not an edition house, Rogan and Herschend maintain the "The Thing" is more like a magazine, in which the issue is an art piece.

Created quarterly, "The Thing" will arrive to your home mailbox in hand-wrapped brown paper and string. Two months ago it launched a "wrapping party" where the two editors and 250 people from around the Bay Area, including one from Thailand, gathered together and literally wrapped the first issue, "The Thing by Miranda July".

The next three issues of "The Thing" will be by visual artists Anne Walsh, Kota Ezawa and Trisha Donnelly. Subscriptions cost US$120 (Bt4,000) plus $30 per issue to ship internationally.

For more details, see www.thethingquarterly.com.