When the nights draw in, creative projects you can do at home are especially popular with young and old alike. The current pandemic reinforces people’s desire for meaningful and enjoyable creative activities they can do within their own four walls.
Children love being creative, but getting them to tidy up afterwards is sometimes difficult. The new Pelikan Creative Factory, designed for 5- to 9-year-olds, provides a solution to this. The various Pelikan creative products – such as Creaplast modelling clay, Griffix wax crayons and water-based pens – can be sorted, compactly stored and easily transported in this innovative stacking system. It really helps to quickly restore order after all the creative chaos. All the creative trays can be purchased individually and combined as desired. Their refillability makes them particularly durable.
When painting with watercolours, you need a water cup, little bowls for mixing the colours and a brush that should also be easy to put down. The ‘Duo’ water cup from Croatian manufacturer Aquarel, offers an interesting solution. The cup is equipped with a special suction base to prevent it from tipping over. If it should nevertheless fall over, a water cup lid serves to protect against any spillage. It also has six compartments for mixing colours. Several brushes can also be placed on the lid, where small knobs prevent them from rolling off. Made of high-quality BPA-free plastic, ‘Duo’ is available in four cheerful colour combinations.
Staedtler combines modelling clay and pencils for the first time in its new ‘Design Journey Trend Sets’. With them, you can form key rings out of oven-hardening Fimo modelling clay and then paint them with signs of the Zodiac with the aid of a metallic marker. The ‘Boho Style DIY Pouch Set’ allows creative people to decorate the enclosed kraft paper pencil case with permanent coloured pencils and form feather pendants and beads from the accompanying Fimo leather effect modelling clay, which can then be attached to the pencil case with the elastic band that comes with the set. The ‘Wanderlust Textile Finishing Set’ contains a dual-tip fabric marker for light or dark fabrics, a cotton bag and Fimo leather effect modelling clay, which, in the shape of a hare or fox, can be sewn or glued onto the fabric. Detailed step-by-step instructions and online video tutorials assist the creative people with their respective projects.
Stamping remains an important creative field, so the ‘NIO Stamp’ series is being expanded further. As a smaller version of the usual model, Efco has now launched ‘Little NIO®’ – just 6.5 centimetres high – in 15 collections, e.g. relating to the subject of bullet journals. In addition to the NIO stamp, each set contains an ink pad and 10 stamp plates, both of which are easy to exchange. Its big brother is the ‘NIO Monogramm’, a set that is perfect for personalising items thanks to interchangeable letters and three decorative circular stamps. Since all the pieces can be combined and exchanged quickly and easily, everyone in the family can stamp their own monogram in books, on exercise books, invitations and more.
Anyone who is creative wants to focus on their creative work, practical and functional products are, therefore, of particularly importance. Moreover, new inspirations and additional variations of familiar techniques are always in demand so users can develop their creative side to the full.
About the author:
Gabriela Kaiser has been the owner of a trend agency since 2002, after working 6 years as designer for knitwear. She visits trade fairs as a trend scout and gives lectures there. She advises companies from industry and trade on upcoming trends and writes regularly for various trade magazines.
