Tag: toys

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A special PLAY catalogue by Swip Stolk and Frans Haks ( early dutch design 1968)

Imagine the old dutch game of ELECTRO . You habe to find the right combination between question and answer and than the light will light up when the answer is correct. This was the idea behind the play catalogue Swip Stolk designed together with Frans Haks for the ENVIRONMENT exhibition they organied in 1968 fro Studium Generale Utrecht.

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For me the importance is not the design of the the play catalogeu but the participating artists. Among them…Morellet, Megert, Struycken, Le Parc and Gerstner.

The “creme de la Creme ” all within one exhibition. This exhibition from 1968 is almost forgotten and one of the reasons is the rare catalogue which was published with this exhibition. Now i have one copy available. Text by Frans Haks, design by Swqip Stolk and produced by Jumbo. A classic among the Sixties catalogues in teh Netherlands anmd well worthdt collecting. Available at www.ftn-books.com

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Black Friday – Ko Verzuu Besteldienst

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Yes….Black Friday and you would expect a nice offer from www.ftn-books.com

Well there is one…. it is a very nice offer for collectors, admirers and people searching for a nice collectible as Christmas present. It is the originally Ko Verzuu designed ( de STIJL artist) Besteldienst which was one of the prestige replica projects by the ADO factory who has made ADO products for over 70 years. The factory does not exist anymore , but these Prestige editions are among the highest sought after collectable toys in the world. This prestige Besteldienst is one of the last projects ADO has done before it closed its doors. Hand built -and painted, all numbered on the base and car and each model comes with its certificate in its original ADO box. Limited edition of 250 , numbered.

It is a large model , measuring  53 x 19 x 25 cm. Condition Mint in Box.

You can find the Besteldienst over here: original price USD 245.00

https://ftn-books.com/products/ado-stijl-ko-verzuu-besteldienst-42-cm-wooden-toy-ltd-ed-250

If you order and checkout use the discount: BFverzuu

and the price will be reduced to USD 150.00

Only valid for 3 days during the Black Friday weekend and only 5 available. Have a nice weekend.

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Three Puppies…..Two by Jeff Koons

 

This week we will be choosing our new family member. A young 8 weeks old puppy. Breed Irish Glen of Imaal terrier and ….we hope…. a new friend for our dog Boris. An important choice , one which would make us all happy for the next 12 years or maybe more. About the same time in years i am living now with two other puppies.

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Koons puppies

These were  made as souvenires by the Bilbao Guggenheim museum. In the first few years they had an agreement with Koons to make these PUPPIES after the very large one in front of the Guggenheim museum. Each season this extremely large sculpture shows itself in a different way. In spring with flowers , in autumn the fall version which is slightly brown, but always it is the first thing you will see at the entrance of the Gehry designed museum. Together with the Matter of Time by Serra these are both the most iconic parts of the collection of the Guggenheim in Bilbao. About 3 years ago we visited the museum for the 5th time and i tried to by my another of the Koons puppies. No puppy was in the store available and i learned that Koons had withdrawn his permission to make the Puppy any longer and sell it in the store as a souvenir. No official puppies are there in the Guggenheim store. None can be bought…except outside in the souvenir shops you can still find snowballs with and  ceramic puppies of the famous statue outside. These are non authorized puppies. A nice remembrance to your visit of Bilbao , but not the same quality of the official ones. Now and then ,one is offerend at auction fetching prices of 200-450 euros. When i will find one again, i will let you know at www.ftn-books.com, where of course the books on Koons are available, but unfortunately not a Koons puppy because mine are not for sale.

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Floris Hovers … keep on playing

Yesterday….9th of December, 2016…location studio of Floris Hovers in Raamsdonksveer.

Never met him before, but an instant liking for the person and works of Floris Hovers. when we met each other yesterday . The studio visit was a result of a purchase  which we had seen at Art THE HAGUE. The result a beautiful and highly entertaining tableau of Circus wagons.

The tableau is featured in the recently published book “Hover’s Manual of Things “which is published in a limited and numbered edition of only 750 copies of which each has a different hand colored cover . Ours is yellow /green on a color of blue, but many others are available at www.florishovers.nl

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Hovers was educated at the Eindhoven Design Academy, graduated in 2004 and has since been designing and developing furniture, toys and objects. The showroom in Raamsdonksveer gives a great overview of the products he has made during the last decade, but what makes the visit to his studio really special is the workspace behind the office/showroom. A space which has been in his family for generations and in which he creates his projects. His use of color is some kind of special, because in many cases he choses for the subdued colors instead of the bright ones, which results in a typical Hovers color scheme. He has an adult approach to his designs and products and of course the marketing of them, but an imaginative mind to please adults and children alike with his designs. A designer for ages from 8-88. The same approach like Herge who’s “Kuifje naar de Maan” poster is gracing his workspace.

Last but not least…i bought myself a CARtools set and have now played for half an hour with it. You can make numerous cars from it by using the 3 kinds of chassis included and combine them together with the multi colored blocks within the set. A little bit like the Bauhaus ship block set, but as a set i prefer this one. Only one product in my own inventory comes to mind when i see his products. It is the fabulous series of ADO wooden toys. They are as nice as the ones Floris makes.

The products featured in this blog : Hover’s manual of Things (euro 49,50) and CARtools are both available at www.florishovers.nl

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For the ADO toys visit www.ftn-books.com

 

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Paya …Tin Toys in La Casa Modernista/Novelda

It was a long time ago that i first found a toy by Paya, the spanish TinToy factory whose tin toys are now collected all over the world. Unfortunately it was not a “first” edition but a reedition of one of their most famous toys “The General Omnibus”. It was the first i found and since  i have been searching for these wonderful toys. They are made of tin , but within these limitations, almost every subject was possible. Cars, planes, motorbikes, racing cars, busses, street sweepers…..and all made by Paya. Nostalgic feelings could not have been the origin of this fascination, because these were originally made well before the time i was born, but there is something different that appeals. The colors and the subjects and of course the fact that moving winding mechanisms are used within these tin toys make these similar to moving sculptures. like to ones made by Jean Tinguely. Pull away the tin plates from the toy and then there is a raw simple winding mechanism which can be wound and which is frequently used in modern art to move  the subjects  (for example in the moving sculptures from the sixties). Springs and winding mechanisms, the same as in the Paya toys, are used to, make parts and even complete sculptures, move. In any case PAYA is well worth collecting and if by any chance you are traveling the region of Alicante in Spain…visit la Casa Modernista in Novelda. On the top floor you will find a very large collection of TinToys of which many are made by Paya.

 

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www.ftn-books.com

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A money bank by ADO/ Ko Verzuu

Yesterday i wrote a blog on the Rietveld Schroderhuis in Utrecht. One of the persons who was inspired by this architectural masterpiece ( and DE STIJL in general) was Ko Verzuu, who had at that time his own program to help his patients with activities during the day. He made wooden toys and in this series of wooden toys he developed a wooden bank inspired by the Rietveld building he admired so much. A square 3d wooden hollow block divided with a horizontal yellow rectangular piece. Bottom was screwed on so you could open and empty the bank. Simple and effective and one of those items which is worth collecting and admiring. The ADO manufacturers/SWZ made a special reedition of this blue/yellow bank in 1999 and used it as a promotional item to show their customers the quality of their work. Nowadays it is a collectible and still available at www.ftn-books.com

wilfried

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Ko Verzuu (1901-1971) , the force behind ADO (wooden) toys

Ko Verzuu ( 1901-1971) had a technical background and with this background he designed and developed wooden toys from 1925-1962 for ADO. These toys were produced in the workshops from the Berg and Bosch hospital and were influenced by  ” de Stijl” which Gerrit Rietveld promoted in those days. Primary colors in relation to clear and straight lines and these characteristics found their way into the ADO toys. The wooden bank is such an example. …..Blue and Yellow in a small designed wooden bank,which could be an element of the Rietveld Schroder Huis in Utrecht.

Verzuu designed these toys with their playability in mind and tested them with his own 11 children to be sure that these were the ultimate wooden toys

The BESTELDIENST in this blog comes from a limited edition of only 250 copies. All with certificate. This was a “prestige” project by ADO from some 15 years ago in which they showed their history and expertise in wooden toys. Made and painted by hand , all numbered this was made in two editions/ A yellow one , which was specially made for the Gemeentemuseum Den Haag in an edition of only 50 copies and….. the one in the picture made in an edition of 250 copies. It was about 12 years ago that SWZ stopped production of all ADO school furniture  and other ADO products and this ended all other ADO projects to be made in the future. The remainder of the banks, beetles ( yes, another special product to be discussed in the near future) and the BESTELDIENST were bought by FTN and were sold on special occasions and on eBay. Now the stock comes to an end and the only place that these will be sold is at www.ftn-books.com.

These last copies  ( all mint, numbered with certificate and original ADO box ) can still be picked up at a fair price.

The quality is superb and these pieces are highly collectable.

wilfried

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