Our products are found in kindergartens and primary schools, social spaces in secondary schools, children's spaces in museums and art galleries, airports, domestic homes, retail spaces, hospitals, doctors waiting rooms...the list is almost endless.
Our furniture is a perfect addition to any classroom space. PLAY+SOFT and Atelier3 both take inspiration from 'Children, Spaces, Relations' (Reggio Children, 1998), a research project that attempts to define guidelines for the development of children's environments. The project advocated a need for harmony and complexity in children's spaces, recommending a wide range of colours, and materials with tactile qualities. PLAY+SOFT addresses this by introducing a variety of soft products in colours that go beyond the traditional primary palette of red, blue and yellow. Atelier3 use mainly secondary or tertiary colours, with primary colours in low saturation, to create a varied and complex ‘chromascape’.
Both lines can be fully integrated into existing settings, or used together to create flexible, mulitsensory and creative learning environments.
PLAY+SOFT offers a whole world of possibilities within retail settings, whether furnishing spaces as a context for a product line or breathing new life into an existing space with areas for young children such as a cafe or waiting room. feelgood designs work with PLAY+ to support project development as design consultants and to create bespoke installations such as the children's spaces at the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow airport (2008). We think children should be valued in public buildings, which is why these spaces are explicitly for children. The coherent identity and aesthetic principles of the line mean that the pieces can be used in many combinations and to complement existing 'adult' spaces.
PLAY+SOFT is especially effective when being used to create contexts for children's activities, including education and creative projects in galleries, museums and libraries. By rearranging or substituting furniture to create temporary children's spaces in public areas, PLAY+SOFT can instantly invigorate any environment. Even the most traditional museum or grandiose gallery is transformed into a welcoming, safe space for young visitors.
In a domestic setting, we find that PLAY+SOFT pieces are often seen as giant toys that are simply too much fun to tidy away! As much at home in a family living space as a child's bedroom, the scale of many of the pieces allows them to be used by adults, or shared by parent and child. The soft and light form of the furniture increases the element of safety for young children around the home and actively encourages children to make their creative mark on their own living space.