Finnish Design Shop has unveiled a collection of open-ended wooden toys during Helsinki Design Week, created in collaboration with different Nordic designers to mark the retailer's 20th anniversary.
Designed for all age groups, the Pelata collection features alternative takes on existing games and musical instruments, all finished in solid woods from birch to ash. Pelata is the Finnish word for "play".
Prikka is a backgammon board that doubles as a tray
One of the toys is Prikka, a "classic" backgammon board that doubles as a tray, made from beech by Stockholm studio TAF.
"The toys will become conversation starters, but they also work as fully functional objects," said Finnish Design Shop CEO Teemu Kiiski.
Anderssen & Voll has created a curvy labyrinth Norweigan studio Anderssen & Voll created three toys for the collection. Sokkelo is a "simplified and sculptural" version of a labyrinth carved out of a smooth piece of ash.
The studio also designed Krocc ? a chunky percussion instrument with a playful crocodile resemblance and another instrument in a bloated elephant shape called Bic-Bac-Boc.
Metsäpallo is a boules-style lawn game
"Pelata toys are slayers of awkward silences," said Kiiski.
Helsinki-based Studio Tolvanen referenced the longstanding connection that Finns have with their forests when designing Metsäpallo, a boules-style lawn game composed of chubby green toadstool-style pieces.
Bic-Bac-Boc features a...