Smallpaper*

VMDPE’s architectural kindergarten in Shenzhen makes pre-school cool

VMDPE Design is taking playtime seriously at the IBOBI International Education Centre and Kindergarten in Shenzhen. Located in the Jingshan Villa, a high-end property development in the Shekou Area of the city, the new facility is designed top-to-toe with little people in mind; complete with...

Nendo’s first graphic picture book depicts how design ideas are born

Nendo, prolific Japanese design studio, has added another product to its expansive repertoire: a picture book. Created by Oki Sato, Nendo founder and chief designer, the book features an ordinary cup as the story’s unlikely hero. However, as readers are...

Play house: modern make-believe for mini aesthetes

Go behind the scenes of our Smallpaper* shoot and see the (little) refined things

Child’s play: Robbrecht en Daem designs a modern puppet theatre for Valerie Objects

Belgian brand Valerie Objects has garnered acclaim for its exquisite pieces produced by designers, artists and architects. An off-shoot of Antwerp’s Valerie Traan gallery, it has presented works by the likes of Muller Van Severen, Koichi Futatsumata and Wieki Somers...

Stimulating wooden blocks from Felissimo and Monogoto

From Portland creative agency Monogoto and designer Marie Uno comes the 202-piece block set, Kuum. Uno – whose background is in engineering – looked to the natural elements of her native Japan for inspiration. The blocks are sold in collaboration with...

Forever young: Kinder Modern and Gallery Diet explore children’s design

Small people need small chairs. Children’s furniture and design has always been an area of interest for the greats, as well as their storied or private clients; but the world of diminutive design isn’t just taking adult-size thinking and shrinking...

Playtime!: Kartell launches its first ever kids collection at Salone del Mobile

At last year’s Salone del Mobile, Italian stalwarts Kartell travelled back in time to pay tribute one of the forefathers of Italian design, Ettore Sottsass. For 2016, they are taking it back again, but this time in scale and age...

Holy order: for first communion gifts, God is in the details

Grand scale: little things to please little people

Party animals: let them eat (more than just) cake

Silver age: the Wallpaper* edit of the finest Christening gifts

And so to beds: form, function and just a little fantasy