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Renaissance
Woman
By
Rachana Rathi
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Karen
Hewitt
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Karen Hewitt has two passions: children and art. This
becomes evident when looking at her life as an artist, early childhood
educator, toy historian, and college lecturer in art education. Most of her
education – B.A. in Art, M.S. Ed. in
Early Childhood Education – and career were spent immersed in one or the
other, yet today, Hewitt gets the best of both worlds – as a toy designer.
She founded the Learning Materials Workshop in 1979 when the
Thingamabobbin was created as a collaborative effort between parents at Ethan
Allen Childcare Center in Vermont. The Thingamabobbin is one of 8 award-winning
sets of construction toys designed by Hewitt. She has designed 14 in
total.
ToyDirectory
Monthly (TDM): What are the concepts behind your designs?
Karen Hewitt (KH): The designs have come out of knowledge of child development. Children are
interested in toys that stimulate their creativity. As an artist, I enjoy
making things that are aesthetically pleasing. The toys are made with unusual
shapes, colors, and materials in order to provoke questions from the children.
(TDM):
Why do you think the aesthetics of a toy matters?
(KH): I enjoy designing eye-pleasing toys, and working with materials like hard wood,
which has a real quality, a heaviness to it. And children gravitate towards
them too. They like things that are beautiful and have some complexity to them
also.
(TDM):
Is there a reason why you design construction toys?
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The
Award-Winning Carosello©
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(KH): Construction toys are modular toys. Children
like to take things apart and put them back together again. Learning
Materials Workshops' toys are open-ended, yet carefully designed in a variety of colors, sizes, shapes,
and textures that stimulate and develop perceptual, motor, and language skills;
mathematical thinking; physical knowledge; cooperative problem solving; and
aesthetic awareness.
(TDM):
Where do your ideas come from?
(KH): I get ideas from watching children play, and from scouring for new materials.
I’ve used an assortment of unusual materials in my toys: different types of
wood, acrylic prisms, colored tubing, mylar, or net to make soft walls.
(TDM):
How do you begin the designing process?
(KH): I design by either making new shapes myself or playing around with shapes that
are available. I try to relate each toy to other toys that I’ve made, whether
it be in size, color, or the shape holes.
(TDM):
How are your designs tested?
(KH): I know children pretty well, and can reject designs even before I take them to
schools to test. I’ve done this for years, but that still doesn’t mean they
don’t surprise me. I usually test the design to find out how difficult the toy
is.
(TDM):
Give us an example where you were surprised?
(KH): When I designed the Carosello, I was thinking of it as a toy for older
children, around 5 or 6 years old. But when it was tested, I found that
toddlers really enjoyed it. So I have simplified it, with less pieces, putting
things in holes, etc so that toddlers can play with it.
(TDM):
Were there any toys that passed tests but didn’t work in the market?
(KH): There was a toy called Toptical – optical top – it did really well in the
beginning. The Smithsonian bought a bunch and put it in their catalog, but we
had to drop it because we weren’t selling enough.
(TDM):
What was the most unusual design you created and how was it inspired?
(KH): The Arcobaleno, which means rainbow in Italian, is our most popular toy. I knew
someone who was a furniture designer. He was making a display stand with pieces
that were cut out of wood. The way it was cut out was a special process. He got
in touch with me and said the kids really enjoy playing with the display at the
local Montessori. So essentially, he came with the idea and I developed it. It
only has 12 pieces and a base, yet its still the most interesting and popular
toy.
(TDM):
Do you miss being an educator? Would you go back to teaching?
(KH): I miss teaching, but I wouldn’t go back now. I spend a lot of time in the
classrooms. Right now I’ve put together the two things I really love –
children and art.
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