HELEN PHAN

HÉLEN PHAN, born in 1989 is a Child Culture Designer and a  Product Designer based in Malmö, Sweden.

She is a young-at-heart designer totally infatuated with child culture and play. She designs experiences for and WITH children, working with products / interiors / spaces / graphics / concepts / service / workshops. She also does lectures on children's participation.

Find here following some of her projects:

AL'S HOUSE
A playhouse with tiny aluminium figures designed to be made in the technique aluminium-profiling. Inspired by children’s drawings of houses.
The concept is a neutral playhouse with belonging figures, free from class, gender and ethnicity. The colours and shapes of the figures represent the similarities and dissimilarities of people.

PAUSE 
It suits one single child in need of an own private space as well as for two or more children’s need for social play in privacy. The concept also considers kindergarten as a context by having felt as material, a material that is sound absorbing at the same time as it enhances the feeling of a private space.
By being foldable PAUSE can easily be knocked down to be stored and save space. It could also be hung up on a wall and turned into a playful sound absorber.

KIWI BIRD BOX
How can a toy unite children with autism and other children in play?
Play makes the tool of Kiwi Bird box to give children with autism the opportunity to develop in social interaction with other children. Because, children are in fact the best pedagogues a child with autism can have. It is a  mutual peep box for two children to play, interact and communicate with each other. With the help of magical magnetism that the kiwi birds possess, children can show, tell and guide each other in a playful way when watching and affecting the world inside Kiwi Bird Box.

BIG FINKI  
Play is about telling a story and finding bodily joy.
Big Fink and Little Fink are designed to be children's roommates, the kind of friendly play objects that have souls. Responding to children through physical interaction, the finks encourage children to express themselves bodily and narratively in cuddly play.Their bodies are made of textile and foam, and deep inside them lies the secret to their wobbliness: a small bag of rice that keep the them down-to-earth.

BLOB SLEDDING
Your friend through cold and snowy days!

GRÖNKULLA
A play furniture, designed to encourage children to express themselves physically in play with big bodily movements. Children are constantly discovering life with all their senses and their whole body. A physically active child is a play signal, that invites other children to join.

ORANGE
REST, SIT, PLAY, PRETEND, ROCK, GROW, ORANGE. ORANGE is designed to be an enclosed and protecting pupa for children with the possibility to open up for play and imagination. It's a product to grow up with, having the qualities of cradle, chair, resting place, swing, hut, toy, you name it.