Designer Toys, also called art toys, are toys and collectibles created by artists and designers that are either self-produced or made by small, independent toy companies, typically in very limited.
Creators often have backgrounds in graphic design, illustration or fine art, but many accomplished toy artists are self-taught. The first Designer Toys appeared in the 1990s in Hong Kong and Japan. By the early 2000s, the majority of Designer Toys were based upon characters created by popular Lowbrow artists, forever linking the two movements.
There are countless thousands of these toys. We display some well known pieces such as Smoking Cat and The Screaming Hand.
Our affectionate tribute to one of the funniest sitcoms of all time, this is a recreation of one of the most densely decorated studio sets ever to appear on televison, incorporating doll house miniatures and custom printed Lego figures.
Fans of the show will find specific references to a couple of episodes.
Alex Palmer brought the cluster puzzle genre to prominence. Palmer was not the first person to have conceived the idea. Rather, Palmer can be considered to have brought jigsaw tessellations of this type to the public. Palmer produced a series of seven such puzzles
First by himself, and then with the help of the family, and then later more seriously with the Cadaco toy and game company of Chicago, Palmer's puzzles went into serious commercial production selling about 750,000 units before the company discontinued the line.
A website devoted to these puzzles:
Blockhead! is a game invented in 1952 by G.W. "Jerry" D'Arcey and developed by G.W. and Alice D'Arcey in San Jose, California. Originally consisting of 20 brightly colored wooden blocks. of varying shapes, the object of the game is to add blocks to a tower without having it collapse on your turn.
Image of original packaging.
Mr. Potato Head was invented and developed by George Lerner in 1949, was first manufactured and distributed by Hasbro in 1952, is considered the first toy advertised on television, and has remained in production since.
In its original form, Mr. Potato Head was offered as separate plastic parts with pushpins to be attached into a real potato or other vegetable. Due to complaints regarding rotting vegetables and new government safety regulations, Hasbro began including a plastic potato body with the toy set in 1964. The original toy was subsequently joined by Mrs. Potato Head.
Image of original packaging.
The Game of Cootie is a children's dice rolling and set collection tabletop game for two to four players. The object is to be the first to build a three-dimensional bug-like object called a "cootie" from a variety of body parts. Created by William Schaper in 1948, the game was launched in 1949 and sold millions in its first years.
If this 13 sided "Rubik's Cube" isn't difficult enough for you, there are 15 and 19 sided versions available.