No limitations with play

Cas Holman introduces the audience to the world of play and in Season 2 Episode 4 of Abstract: The Art of Design. In the opening scene, there is a video montage of a bunch of DNA-like structures in playdough-esque colors. At first, I was slightly confused as I thought she built educational games that had a science theme to it but came to realize that the toys that she makes are all building blocks for children to be creative.

There is something unique about being able to design for children. Children are often thought to be naive and innocent as they are younger. Holman talks about the hierarchical nature of society, she addresses that being a queer woman has presented challenges of being accepted in the industry as well and by her family. Yet, when Colman speaks about making toys for children, there are endless opportunities for children to use their imagination to create something. Throughout the episode, the builds “the Critter”, which has holes in it and parts that allows children to plug in rockers, spinners and wheels to be anything a child wants his/her/they creation to be.

I was particularly intrigued by her sketches for Rockwell group when she was reinventing the playground. She talked about the process of sketching different forms of a playground and “drawing a child in different positions” and filling up the sketches of “how children will get there” before ending up with “the big blue box”. Originally inspired by Caroline Pratt’s “unit block,” which are modular blocks that allows children to build anything Colman created different forms and shapes out of blue foam. Targeted towards elementary school children, the blue blocks were intentionally made to be large so children could collaborate and move parts together. Creating individual parts that make a larger whole, children have endless of permutations to create their own playgrounds and reset again. Giving children the autonomy to build whatever they want, Colman’s “big blue blocks” creates a constructive environment for children to learn.

I have never seen anything similar to Colman’s creations on a playground. Something I really liked in the episode is that she stripped gender off as category on the toys that she creates. Colman points out that it is ridiculous that toys are segregated by gender in a toy store with a blue and pink section. Struggling with her sexuality herself, Colman hints at the restrictive nature of categorizing toys at a young age. As a result, she creates toys that are genderless and unites children of different gender rather than saying who should be able to play with her toys and not.