Tag Archives: art

The Treasure Chest of Terrible Toys: Children’s Paper Chair

19 Jan

January 19, 2012

Like last week’s awful briefcase, I induct another lousy toy under the Toychest of Terrible Toys banner. As you’ll see, this is not a toy per se but it is designed for kids to have fun with. Or prehaps I should say that it is “claimed” to be designed for kids to have fun with since in reality this chair is awkward to use and uncomfortable to sit on. It is not really a chair under most definitions, and a toy? Well, you decide.

TT Chair

From July, 6, 2011

“Form follows function” is a principle associated with architecture and industrial design in the 20th century. The principle is that the shape of something should be primarily based upon its intended function or purpose.

Kitchen chairs follow that principle. Bean bag chairs do not. Which would you rather sit on at the dinner table?

I picked the chair example for a reason. About a month ago I wrote about a pretty bad toy, a briefcase for your child. (See “Birth of The Office Drone.”) One of my problems with that toy was the lack of imagination involved in playing with it. At that time I also came across this product. The following chair for your child may have the opposite problem, too much imagination went into its creation.

Following the principle of form following function, you’d expect the “Children’s Paper Chair” to be some sort of chair.

It is not.

No child could comfortably sit on that thing, especially if the child uses it a lot. The roll will get smaller and smaller and harder and harder to sit on, let alone use. It is a very awkward way of drawing. (I also might have to think about letting strangers look at my daughter while sitting in that position.)

Sitting the other way is no better, the child is cramped. And one dirty diaper or accident will ruin the whole roll.


It is a lousy, uncomfortable chair. It is a lousy, uncomfortable way of drawing. So what went into the thinking behind that product?

I suspect it was something along the lines of “Hey. We have all these rolls of paper lying around, what the heck are we going to do with them?”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Imponderable #44: Bakersfield California

27 Apr

April 27, 2012

I’d like to say I had more information for you. I’d like to say that the airplane will be turned into, I don’t know, anything but an airplane, but I can’t. From other sources online, it is what it appears to be: the guy will bury an airplane and let you use the toilet. Ten out of ten for convenience, I guess. When you got to go you got to go.

So as I often ask in this arena, is this art? What is he trying to say? I don’t know and I found no clue online. But what could he be saying? I’m stumped.

From The Washington Post: Buchel creates fictitious environmental installations that comment on social and political forces. Some of his previous work has included setting up a community center for low-income London residents inside a blue-chip gallery, and creating a maze within a garbage dump in Paris’s famed Palais de Tokyo. Bucher was also involved in a legal dispute with MASS MOCA after the museum attempted to complete and exhibit his installation called “Training Ground for Democracy,” without his cooperation. Courts initially ruled in favor of MOCA, but Bucher won on appeal.

He set up a maze in a garbage dump. Yeah, because when you find yourself in a garbage dump the one thing you want is to spend more time there.

Would you travel into the desert in order to climb down a tunnel and look at an airplane? The question is Imponderable.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →