Peeper

I have been working on a big brother to the Peep furniture line I made for hip toddlers and their cool parents.  The first time I tried it, a few years ago, I simply scaled up the Peep chair and it looked silly.  

Some things just don't scale up.

That made me think about how goofy we would look if we were scaled up babies.  I would be a six foot baby.  Here is where I found my direction for the new larger Peep line.  I might call it Peeper.  My plan is to figure out a profile shape that looks like the Peep chair, only three years older.  I am studying the metamorphosis of my own kid and am trying to apply that growth to the new chair.  

As a baby he was comfortable in his chubbitude.  Now he is a little awkward and is starting to show signs of humility as his body blurts out in different directions.  Parts of his body seem to grow at different rates.  I want to capture that sweet gawkiness  in the form of Peeper.  I think I can.  It will be tough to prove me wrong.

Here are some of the shapes I have been playing with.  I am honing in on it.  

It is amazing how subtle changes in shape can effect the personality of a blob.  Why is one funnier than another and why is one aggressive and one is slovenly.   The third one down and two over looks like it would be a tennis pro if it were human. I actually dated a girl who had an annoying friend always wore shoes that looked like the one to the right of the sad clown one.

Brief History

I wish did and am glad I didn't, start this blog a few years ago.   If I did, you would know the painful history of the Peep kiddie furniture line.  It is a story packed with design and manufacturing action including a dream ICFF moment, international nightmares, glossy accolades and an insider's theory on why all those American furniture manufacturers are reduced to an office with a guy who orders components from China and a giant warehouse full of cob web covered machines.  

In a simple sentence:  I could not find a manufacturer.  

It drove me batty.  Below is a short video I made to make a point to these guys in Jamestown, NY when they sent me a revised production model of the little Peep desk.  When the chair practically fell apart in my hands I set up the camera for this demonstration.  

Needless to say, we weren't a match.  I should have known when I saw their company hat was camo with green lettering and logo. I am wearing it in the video.  Don't get me wrong, I painted black and gray flames on my black designmobile and they are invisibly cool as hell but in the wrong application it's just plain dupid.