Playroom essayIssue 07
Make Believe Needs Room to Roam
The best ideas do not arrive fully assembled; they tumble out when a room is generous enough for a child to rearrange it.
On a rainy Saturday in 1995, I watched a cardboard box become a city, a cardboard tube become a telescope, and a blanket become a border crossing. The room did not need better toys; it needed permission to change shape.
A room is a tool for thinking
That is why our studio keeps a low shelf beside the worktable. Prototypes land there beside crayons, tape, and yesterday’s cardboard. By Monday, the useful question is rarely “Does it look finished?” It is “What could this become next?”