Interview with Fabien Fontaine
Toys lover and design enthusiastic Fabien Fontaine work is all about combining his passions and develop item with purpose. His favourite quote "simplicity is the ultimate sophistication".
Designer Interview
21 October 2019
After having spent more than 10 year in toy industry observing play values that make a good toy and as design lover I naturally used these 2 passions to become a toy designer.
Tralala Ltd is a company who bring innovative toy into the market focusing on 2 aspects: Open play function to maximize children possibilities to experiment and discover their own skills. Core play values which are the DNA to take into account when developping preschool toys.
For me design is closely related to simplicity, practical use as well as evidences.
All type of toys or products as long as they have a purpose
Lalaboom educational beads was our first design
I love soft material such as HDPE, EVA or silicone as they offer a unique feeling, it is easy to work with and safe. We are now working on solution to offer similar plastic based on bio-material to keep all the advnatge and to make them more attractive.
With a pen and a paper.
The meeting point between shapes and purpose
It is a paradox between freedom and frustration between opn possibilities and reality.
Satisfaction
When it become obvious
I am looking at the global picture rather than details
The duty of designer is to offer a different point of view and to innovate. By doing this, designer can help society to rethink the way it operate for a better consumption.
Design is becoming very important as business players tend to differentiate themselve against competition.
We exhibit worldwide, last exhibition was in Nuremberg Germany in February ad we will be in London end of May 2019.
My inspiration come from Nature and organic shapes. I feed my creativity by walking into the nature and watching details and patterns around me.
I was born in France and I live in Hong Kong for 12 years. It makes an interesting mix in terms of heritage, culture and landscape. Both side inspire me a lot.
I like to work on ideas untill I found technical challenge, then I leave it for a while to let my subconscious working on it. Then, when I feel ready, I come back to my challenge and generally I find solutions. In order to finalize my design I repeat this process several times.
I am not a full time designer but this is for sure the most positive aspect of my work.
Everything depend from a point of view. I also use this rule in my life.
Listen and watch. Being open minded and stubborn at the same time.
It takes about 1 year to develop a toy project.
Did you find this idea alone?
Sourcing manager for toy company in China
Keep doing what I like, keep developping toys
I work alone for the main idea and concept, then I require the advise of 2 importants person I trust in.