Press Release
Bronze A' Design Award in Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design Goes to Gumbek Didactic Toy by Lea Vavra
Lea Vavra of Kištra by Vavra recognized for toys, games and hobby products design by the international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 17, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Gumbek Didactic Toy by Lea Vavra of Kištra by Vavra, designed for Kistra, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design category. The result belongs to the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the Bronze A' Design Award Means
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
About Gumbek Didactic Toy
Gumbek is a didactic plush toy that stimulates creativity and encourages the development of fine motor skills through play. This modular toy comes in parts and kids have to assemble their own toy by connecting the parts together in order to create a whole. There are seven different segments; three larger ones and four smaller ones. The pieces are attached to one another by threading the buttons through the buttonholes, which helps to improve fine motor skills, Also, the arrangement of different shapes helps to develop imagination and creativity as the toy can be put together in different ways.
About Lea Vavra
Kištra is a small design company from Zagreb. It was founded by industrial designer Lea Vavra. The core Kištra's business is the design and production of interactive, handmade soft toys for children. Kištra originates from the first plush toy manufacturing company in Zagreb (Croatia) – „Igračke Vavra“, which was founded by Lea's grandmother. From her, she inherited a love for toys and quality handmade products. What makes Kištra's toys special is the purposeful design that helps to refine fine motor skills and develop each child's creative skills.
About Kištra by Vavra
Kištra is a small design company from Zagreb. It was founded by industrial designer Lea Vavra. The core Kištra's business is the design and production of interactive, handmade soft toys for children.
Award Record
With this recognition, Lea Vavra of Kištra by Vavra is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design Award
The A' Toy Design Award is an international toy design competition recognizing good toy designs by best toy designers, manufacturers and brands worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to toy designers, game studios, industrial designers and hobby product manufacturers from all countries. Entries typically include dolls, action figures, board games, puzzles, plush toys and educational toys. Awarded toy designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/toy
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/153330
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/153330
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!153330
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/265775
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://tinyurl.com/y5wddsju
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Gumbek Didactic Toy
- Function
- Didactic Toy
- Category
- Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Kids
- Colors
- White, Maroon, Light Sky Blue, Sienna and Dark Slate Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Kistra
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Lea Vavra
- Country
- Croatia
- Brand
- Kištra by Vavra
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2023 - 2024
- Design ID
- #153330
Credits
- Image Credits
- Photographer Lea Vavra, Gumbeki, 2022.; Photographer Lea Vavra, Gumbek - warm, 2022.; Photographer Lea Vavra, Gumbek - cold, 2022.; Photographer Lea Vavra, Gumbek - earthy, 2022.; Photographer Lea Vavra, Gumbek assembly variations, 2022.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Gumbeki are modular plush toys that stimulate creativity and enhance motor skills through play. Each toy consists of seven parts which children connect to each other by buttons in order to create a whole, which helps improve fine motor skills. The parts are made of colorful materials with different textures so they provide a good stimulus for the development of sensory integration. The arrangement of different shapes helps to develop imagination as the toy can be put together in lots of ways.
- Inspiration
- My grandmother, Ruzica Vavra, had one of the first toy productions and toy stores in Croatia. Her popular stuffed toys brought joy to many generations, but unfortunately the store was closed due to the arrival of global manufacturers on our market. I have always been inspired by that story, and after finishing my education at the Faculty of Architecture - School of Design, I decided to revive the family tradition from a designer's aspect, creating smart toys, stimulating for kids development.
- Research
- Through the review of various literatures I researched the topics such as the history and different types of play, typology of toys, cultural differences, the impact and importance of playing for children's physical and emotional development etc. I also conducted two surveys on 200 parents about kids playing habits today and the importance of childhood toys. I found that children today have a large number of toys that often quickly bore them because they do not stimulate their development.
- Challenge
- I noticed a lack of emotional connection to toys in today's children, which is important for their development. Also, parents are increasingly giving kids activities on screens that can be harmful to children's physical development if used excessively. I wanted to create a soft toy that kids would connect to emotionally, but I also wanted them to learn an activity through play. Didactic toys are mostly made of hard materials, so it was a challenge creating a one with a soft tactile experience.
- Realization and Technology
- I wanted to make a soft toy that kids could assemble themselves so I created a plushie that consists of several different parts that can be connected to each other with buttons. All of these parts are handmade. The fabric pieces are cut by hand, pinned together and sewn on a sewing machine. After that, they are turned over and stuffed. The hole left after stuffing is sewn shut by hand. The buttonholes are sewn on a sewing machine. The final step is to sew the buttons, which is also done by hand.
- Operation and Interaction
- This modular toy comes in parts and kids have to assemble their own toy by connecting the parts to one another. There are seven different segments; three larger ones with buttons and buttonholes sew, and four smaller ones with just buttonholes. The pieces are attached together by threading the buttons through the buttonholes. There are lots of different ways of putting them together, but for those children who view the toy as a puzzle there is an assemby scheme for the way we imagined them.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in 2016. in Zagreb, Croatia and finished in 2018. when it was put on the Croatian market and exhibited in numerous exhibits, festivals and fairs, such as Zagreb Design Week or Exhibition of Croatian design 1718.
- Specifications
- SMALL SIZE GUMBEKI 17 x 17 x 15 cm, packaging approximately 20 x 20 x 20 cm MEDIUM SIZE GUMBEKI 27 x 27 x 24 cm, packaging approximately 30 x 30 x 30 cm LARGE SIZE GUMBEKI 36 x 36 x 33 cm, packaging approximately 40 x 40 x 40 cm
- Keywords
- toy, soft toy, plush, didactic, educational, creative, children
