Arts Thread

Above: Kids Design Award 2019 finalists 1. Yaara Nusboim /2. Katharina Bellinger/3. Anna Ulmer/4. Valerian Blos, Gosia Lehmann and Gyujin Lee/5. Liang Yu Chi

The 10 finalists of this year’s Kids Design Award have been announced as part of this year's Kind + Jugend Trade Show for Kids’ First Years taking place in Cologne September 19-22 2019.

Yaara Nusboim, an industrial design graduate from Shenkar, has created a range of Therapy Dolls that aim to holistically support young children with emotional problems. Using maple wood and flexible polyurethane, each doll represents a different emotion that a child may encounter during therapy.

Katharina Bellinger has been shortlisted for the Wurm Werkstatt construction toy which aims to help kids develop their cognitive and motor skills. Wurm Werkstatt features tactile panels that can be assembled into any kind of object or shape using worm-shaped connectors. WE already featured Katharina in our report on Berlin University of the Arts UdK.

Fleet by Anna Ulmer is a modular toy boat that teaches children about non-electronic propulsion modules such as steam engines, rubber band motors and balloon-powered engines.

Alessandra Furmagalli Romario’s Imaginary Language project seeks to support creativity in young kids. Using the Irving Biderman theory of psychology that suggests the human brain recognizes objects by isolating them into basic forms, Romario has created a game featuring a number of ambiguous objects, which the child can project any use or meaning on to, thus allowing them to create their own game and rules.

Valerian Blos, Gosia Lehmann and Gyujin Lee collaborated to create the Denkigami series of hybrid toys, inspired by animals that can produce or sense electricity. Using paper electronics, children can easily assemble the toys. ‘With our playful design, we engage girls as well as boys at different ages,’ write the team, who are also being funded by the Creative Prototyping Scholarship from the Berlin University of the Arts UdK.

Liang Yu Chi aims to improve the experiences of children living with asthma by re-designing their inhalers and medical devices to give them a more appealing aesthetic and by gamifying their healthcare through a smartphone app. In a playful way, the app helps children keep a record of their medication and give them a better understanding of how to manage their condition.



Nikita Vorobiev’s UP is a pram cover designed for urban families who commute with their children on a daily basis.



EVO by Beril Kucukbeydag is an adjustable baby carrier that can be altered to accommodate the baby as they grow, extending the product’s life cycle and meeting the needs of the child through their stages of development.



Alexander Rex aims to challenge the number of toy cars children are given to play with by creating a wooden toy bicycle. Anastasija Ribaka and Aleksandra Ribaka worked together to create the Luni chair, a modular seat made from a number of cushions and a metal frame that kids can turn into a table, chair, or taken apart to be used as large building blocks.



The winner of the Kids Design Awards 2019 will be announced 19 September at the Trend Forum during the Kind + Jugend Trade Show for Kids’ First Years.

To learn more about the Kids Design Awards 2019, visit the Kind + Jugend website.