“A Playful Home” is a new installation by Design Within Reach and kinder MODERN.
These two realities partnered on a shoppable installation in New York City called “A Playful Home”. Lora Appleton, the founder of kinder MODERN, designed the installation using a curated mix of DWR and kinder MODERN furnishings, along with exclusively commissioned pieces. Throughout a series of rooms, like a living room and bedrooms, the collaboration exhibits creative and whimsical possibilities when it comes to living with modern design that are bound to spark ideas for visitors to use in their own homes.
The shared kids’ bedroom is a playful space full of color and whimsical pieces starting with the lighting bolt and rainbow mirrors by Bride & Wolfe. A colorful cacti sculpture “planted” in a mid-century Bullet Planter is by artist Brett Douglas Hunter, who also created other pieces of fantastical creatures in the space. A kinder MODERN rug, designed by Appleton herself, adds a graphic element with a low coffee table designed by Studio 7.5 brought in for play.
Kinder, a quarterly journal exploring child design of the past, present, and future, is the first periodical devoted entirely to this rapidly growing design niche. KINDER weaves connections between historic child designs, current prototypes, influential design studios and artists. It often overlooked history of how industrialization and modernity made a definitive and lasting impact on design for children.
The brand seeks to share ideas and engender dialogue. The first step is by examinate the work and influence of iconic child designers of the twentieth century and then by engaging in conversation with contemporary designers, curators, and educators. KINDER draws inspiration from a wide variety of sources. Those sources include the skilled craftsmanship of furniture designers, design history and academia, pedagogy, urban landscapes, photography, artisans, inspired family homes. More often than not, an inexplicable combination of culture, experience, and imagination is the perfect mix.
In each issue,Kinder covers the following aspects of child design: materiality, historic icons of child design, collections, pedagogy and inspiration. It strives to embrace the subtle details often overlooked in traditional art and design publications. Through various contributing editors and design experts, KINDER explores a wide, yet nuanced, range of topics in the fields of design, applied arts, product and furniture design, culture, environmental play, and family, featuring academic editorial with an international perspective.
Photos by Christian Torres.
