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Tailored Play

Designer toys for fashionable collectors

By Tina Benitez -- Gifts and Dec, 3/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Toys designed by elite or underground artists—like a bright orange, vinyl dog figure; a colorful, plush Shiitake mushroom; or a line of all-black or all-white plastic toys designed and sculpted by a hip creator—are highly fashionable these days. To die-hard collectors or the fashion-conscious, these designer toys, which include exclusive vinyl and plastic figures, wooden toys, plush and other categories, are literally becoming household products with “character,” extending across multiple age groups and retail markets—and, interestingly, finding a captive audience among adult consumers looking to add playful decoration to their homes.

The 8-inch orange “Toxic Dog” Qee vinyl designed by Joe Ledbetter is part of a new designer toys series from Diamond Distributors of Timonium, Md. The Designer Toy collectible showcase features toys created by some popular and up-and-coming artists whose products are not necessarily known or even available to the masses.

“The reason we created the program is that we've noticed in the gift market and in specialty that there's a group out there picking up the toys to fit an aesthetic purpose,” says Kevin Winnick, purchasing director of new business development for Diamond. “I've seen some people who buy blank, white vinyl figures because they have a home or room that is predominantly white. It adds something by not taking away.”

Historically, designer toys were mostly limited edition, but that's beginning to change as their popularity increases. Several manufacturers are offering artist-designed toys this year. Paris-based Pylones is launching a Bobblehead Robot figure that doubles as a cooking timer, as well as alien pet plush dolls designed by several European artists. Pretty Ugly has new Uglydolls characters—Abima, Gato Deluxe, Deer Ugly and Uglyworm—and artist Chack has designed Gloomy Bear T-shirts, journals and mugs for Dark Horse Comics.

Making a move

Winnick tells Playthings that the “movement,” as he calls it, for designer toys is “huge” overseas in the U.K., Germany and The Netherlands, because they haven't been able to get enough of it. On this side of the Atlantic, the category is still gaining momentum across various retail outlets—toy, gift, vinyl-only stores, museums—but it's still a very low-key genre, he says.

Diamond currently has approximately 4,500 retailers offering such toys and will continue to work individually to add designer items throughout the year.

New York-based artist Erick Scarecrow, president of ESC Toys, recently landed a corporate account with New York designer clothing store Henri Bendel to produce 2,000 limited edition T-shirts featuring his vinyl and plush toy designs.

Scarecrow's Shiitake plush toys are taken from the original design for a vinyl figure he worked on more than a year ago with bi-coastal collectible toy shop Kidrobot. This year, Scarecrow has several new designs for the mushroom plush and resin busts and vinyls designed by various artists for ESC. He is also in talks with television networks and a video game publisher about his line of characters called Mash-Out.

Scarecrow currently works with boutique toy shops like New York-based My Plastic Heart and Toy Tokyo, and agrees that consumers want designer toys for either decorative or collectible purposes.

“There are people who buy on the eye-candy concept alone and others who buy for the collector value and say, 'I know this artist, and this is going to appreciate over time,'” Scarecrow tells Playthings. “Others just want to have fun with them. It's part of the whole energy and vibe that it has here. I come from a mass market toy background, so this is more underground, no holds barred. It's interesting to come down to this spectrum. There are no restrictions.”

Retro in Seattle

Sandra and Harold Darling started Green Tiger Press in 1969 in San Diego. Sandra—who is better known as Alexandra Day, author of the beloved Good Dog Carl children's book and its sequels—and her husband started the business by using art from old children's books in reissues of classic children's titles, something that put the company on the map in the 1970s. By the mid 1980s, Simon & Schuster took over the company, but the Darlings were able to reclaim most of their original titles again in 1993.

Now based in Seattle and doing business as Laughing Elephant, the pair publishes books and manufactures stationery, stickers and more. The current company also includes the original Green Tiger Press titles. Harold, now in his early 70s, and Sandra, 64, are still deeply involved in the company on the design side and continue to release product in the same style they've used from the beginning—vintage pictures that pack lots of retro appeal. Some of the bestsellers, according to sales manager Jerry Houck, are shaped children's books like Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretel, retro luggage labels, stickers and greeting cards.

Old is new

This year, the company will branch out into pocket mirrors and other accessories. "We're still trying to keep old-fashioned product from the old days," Houck tells Playthings, while adapting to the forces impacting retailers. "Stores are changing a lot. Everybody has to continuously add on. Book stores are becoming more than a book store; stationery stores are adding on more."

That the company uses original art from 1890 through 1930 sets Laughing Elephant apart from other children's publishers, Houck says. "This art is often 100 years old or older. Ninety percent of what we do is old art, and we want to stay within that niche of classic illustrators that most people don't see much of anymore," he explains.

The company currently works with more than 3,000 retailers across the country—1,500 of which are active customers—in museum shops, gift, stationery and book stores. Houck says the company's workforce is small—12 people total, including several of the Darling children—and that's how they would like it to stay. "We're not your middle city, glitz company," says Houck.

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