About
PAP YAY: a modern puzzle block toy
£7,335
200
We are Ildut and Catalina. We live in a small flat in London with two cheeky kids (see pic at the bottom of the page) and invariably their toys end up in the living room, making a mess that we shamefully try to hide when we have visitors.
We wanted to create a simple toy, no battery, no plastic, that could stay in our living room and be easy to tidy away. But also a toy that is sustainably made and easily recyclable.
So we collaborated with the super talented design studio HEY (www.heystudio.es) in Barcelona to create one. We’ve designed a beautiful, modern toy: a 10-piece puzzle block made of paper.
Why paper?
The paper is reinforced with cardboard and the folding techniques used make the blocks super strong.
They are also very light. A 10-cube tower can fall on a glass coffee table without any risk of damage and without making a noise. The paper we use is also sourced sustainably and easy to recycle. It's ticking all the boxes.
6 simple puzzles
More and more studies are showing that if you want creative kids, give them something simple to play with and avoid battery operated toys.
With our own two kids, we discovered the importance of playing with simple toys to encourage the development of their cognitive skills.
Each block is made of simple geometrical shapes and the colours are bright and bold to capture a child’s imagination. There are six simple animal puzzles:
- two rectangles (an owl and a rabbit)
- two t-shapes (a parrot and a fish)
- two towers/lines (a snake and a caterpillar)
The shapes were designed to encourage children to create many more combinations, too.
From young toddlers to grown-ups
As they are light and safe to use, the paper blocks are perfect for young kids. Our daughter’s favourite game is to build a big tower and push it over. The puzzles are super simple and kids from three year old will enjoy making them.
Great packaging
The 10 blocks come in a box with a tray for easy storage (the blocks are already built and ready to use). The packaging looks fantastic and was designed to live on a bookshelf next to art books.
Dimensions
Each cube is 5 cm x 5 cm 5 cm to fit naturally in a small hand.
The outside dimensions of the box are L 26.5 cm x W 11.05 x H 6 cm. We wanted it to be small and light to be easy to take to a cafe so the kids can play while the parents have a few minutes of rest.
Manufacturing
We’ve spent months sourcing manufacturers with the right skills we need and are excited to have some excellent paper experts in China lined up to produce a high-quality product.
We've aimed to worked with a manufacturer that cares about the working conditions of its staff and the paper is sourced sustainably.
Raising the money
Now we need to raise the money for the first minimum order, and that’s where we need your help.
We are using Kickstarter as an exclusive pre-order.
We have set the goal lower that the actual costs required to give it a better chance, but going over will allow us to finance the manufacturing entirely without further cash inputs from us (which would help a lot!).
Timings
It will take up to 16 weeks to manufacture and we will start shipping the products in August. If all goes well we might even be able to do it sooner!
Rewards
We are offering all sorts of rewards for backing our campaign.
The main reward will be a set of the puzzle blocks but we will also have an entry level with a hand-written 'thank you' card from us (very good karma guaranteed!).
Please share ♥
Know people who would like it? We'd love if you could share the project with them. We rely on word-of-mouth to spread the word.
About us
We both work in creative industries, Catalina is an architect and Ildut is a client director in advertising.
We started PAP YAY (pronounced 'pa-pee-yay', which is how you say ‘paper’ in French) to create a small range of beautiful modern toys, partnering with fantastic designers, that both parents and kids will enjoy.
Risks and challenges
Risks are pretty limited.
We have finalised the design and are working closely with the manufacturer on the artwork files to be printed.
The manufacturing process and shipping will take 12 to 16 weeks so the products are likely to be with everyone around August/September.
As this is our first order with the manufacturer we will control the quality of the final product after we raised and committed the money. We have received a dummy of the product and the manufacturer has a strong reputation but we can't guarantee at this stage the quality.
If we don't reach the funding amount the project won't go ahead and we will have to try to find another way to cover the costs of the first minimum order.
Learn about accountability on KickstarterSupport
Funding period
- (33 days)