Every toy longs to become Real, but what if that just doesn't happen? What if you've got bad timing? What if you're the fifteenth bear received by a child, a child who no longer plays with stuffed animals to begin with? Chances are you'll be donated to a repository, and very possibly forgotten...
Unless...you're lucky enough to be rescued and transformed into an Outsider. With a mind for recycling and sensitivity to the plight of the unloved toy, Atelier Volvox has developed a procedure for giving abandoned stuffed animals a new lease on life. The Outsiders are plush toys that have been turned inside out (eyes and all) and resewn. (True, they look a little funny, but who doesn't?) It's an idea that earned the designers top honors at the Recycling Design Preis 2012 in Germany, and we think it has DIY written all over it. After all, every toy deserves a second chance to become Real...
Read More: Dezeen
(Images: Dezeen)
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Oh..they look like 'frankentoys'. I think I might be afraid of these if I was a child but children are so accepting, aren't they?
I applaud the recycling.
i believe kent rogowski did this first with his "bears" series ... http://www.kentrogowski.com/projects/bears/
Can they be purchased????
Just reading an allusion to "The Velveteen Rabbit" made my day. Thank you, and could I have more kleenex?
When we first saw the Kent Rogowski portraits my daughter immediately made her own inside-out bear. It's adorable, but it took her a few tries to find a bear that works well - for instance, if it has separately stuffed limbs then each piece would have to be unsewn, restuffed and the sewn back together and then the pieces reattached.
The bear that worked out best had a small area in the center of the back that had been handsewn shut. All she had to do was pull out those stitches and then resew when she was done. Also, the button eyes with grommets holding them on still look like eyes inside out - embroidered eyes don't work as well.
It does seem like it could be creepy, but they have such an adorable urchin-y quality, especially if all the stuffing isn't put back in.
These are great.
And they give you a better idea of just how much work goes in to sewing plus toys.
And then we buy them and discard them by the truckloads. They really do deserve to be appreciated, played with, and loved. My daughter's favorite "little one" as she calls them, is a plush cat she picked out for herself. It's a good idea to listen to the kids in what they like..
Oh, I love these... and the Velveteen Rabbit...
Turning them inside out makes them more fragile and vulnerable, and thus more in need of love. So many plush toys have no soul, but this makes them soulful.
I also love that these are Swiss :-)
(and yes, they can be purchased, but only in 3 stores, all in Zurich)
Lot's of personality in these little guys! Love them.
They remind me of antique stuffed toys - the kind with hand-tufted "fur" which would fall out or wear threadbare over time.