Ateliers de la Petite Enfance

Same old story: Jean Touitou (owner and designer of A.P.C.) didn't like the options for his daughter's preschool — so he started his own.



Ateliers de la Petite Enfance (A.P.E.) opened in January with 25 students. The student to teacher ratio is about 1 to 6. Tuition is "expensive by French standards" at $16,000 per year. A satellite space around the corner opens this spring as the A.P.E.'s art workshop and mini theater for concerts and plays. A partner at M/M enrolled his own kid and is now working on a "visual toolbox" for the school. Jessica Ogden is a part-time art teacher. The school was designed by A.P.C.'s architect, Laurent Deroo, who installed plywood closet doors that double as a climbing wall, little Aalto chairs and that rad black folding wall thing. The school is Touitou's way to "build something solid that might last longer than fashion."

From W, April 2008: "Even if you grow up to be an accountant, it's better to be surrounded by beautiful furniture than by ugly furniture." / "This is a nursery school, so you can't just put in a concrete floor because it looks good." / "Montessori has kept a lot of shrinks in business."

Elsa's first Easter Eggs

Monsters

Elsa and I made some monster puppets.

Post Typography's Letter Blocks

"...these hand painted alphabet blocks have two square sides and four narrow, rectangular sides." Post Typography, 2004.

(saw 'em on fffound)

Plate for Mom

We picked up the plate (from The Expressive Hand).

Barnens Konstmuseum

An art exhibition for children in a scaled down museum. Installed during Art, Kind Of! in the main gallery at Västerås Konstmuseum, Sweden. After the fact: the exhibiton closed in January.

Curator/concept: Jacob Dahlgren
Architecture: Medium





Previously: Medium's work on The Experimental Playground Project
Related: Jacob Dahlgren's The wonderful world of abstraction

Photos: Medium

Elsa thinks this is hilarious

By Andrew Jeffrey Wright from his Button Battle zine.

Plate for Mom

Elsa and I went to the local paint-your-own pottery place.

Baby Seal Pelt

Handmade in Icelandic wool. Designed by Vik Prjónsdóttir and available at Scandinavian Grace in Brooklyn ($220).

Off the wall

The Firststep stool/shelf by Belgian designer Marina Bautier. From 2000 and "batch produced" by the designer.




"combination of stool and shelf enables them [kids] not only to accomplish daily tasks on their own, but also gives them the satisfaction of getting to grips with a personal item that helps them to create their own world in the family bathroom. When it is not in use the stool is stored on the shelf, but can be easily taken down by children who can use it to reach the wash hand basin or toilet." —lamaisondemarina

via Remodelista

Mini Spielzeug

Linda Suter & Nataly Huonder have made fantastic use of the extra space in their studio. Mini Spielzeug is open for business in Zurich. In addition to a nicely edited selection of vintage wooden toys, they are publishing and printing their own books for kids (designed and printed by Linda's boyfriend Urs). Mini Book #1: The Lousy Animals and Friends Coloring Book by Stefan Marx.