#sparkchamber 123024 — Tom Karen
The close of another year brings reflection, contemplation, introspection. In that spirit, #sparkchamber remembers and celebrates toymaker, creative genius, award-winning designer, and one of the world’s most remarkable inventors, Tom Karen, who passed away on New Year’s eve 2022 at the age of 96.
“From inventing the Marble Run to designing the iconic Raleigh Chopper bike and creating the Bond Bug, Tom’s designs are cherished the world over. But behind these fantastical creations lies an equally remarkable life. Born in the 1920s into a wealthy family and raised in Czechoslovakia by nannies, Tom had a lonely upbringing and longed for pencils, paper, paints, and brushes.
“His childhood was short-lived when Tom and his family had to flee for their lives following the rise of Germany. It was this formative experience that would transform Tom’s life. Arriving in the UK, Tom would establish himself as a creator, slowly building the career that would see him dubbed the man who designed the seventies.”
In 2020, at the age of 94, he published a memoir, a 400-page retrospective of his life. “Told through the prism of Tom’s incredible designs, Toymaker is a story about life, about imagination, about being in the present and existing in the past; about painting, drawing, chopping and changing; about thinking, discussing, arguing and listening. Tom’s life is a tale of a century of creativity and how “things” come to define who we are — and help us look ahead to where we’re going.”
Beautiful musings for this second-to-last day of 2024 as we look ahead to the new year. Wishing each and every a joy-filled, bountiful, safe, and creative 2025.
1.] Where do ideas come from?
Designing such a product seemed an irresistible challenge for me too. My mind seems to be programmed to enable me to juggle around a number of ideas at the same time: the function, the form, the way to make something … I let ideas percolate in my mind and when they took a certain shape, I would record them in my sketchbook [was never without one]. This would clear my mind before tackling further problems.
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
Pleasing objects are what I live for
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
Every product has to perform — it must be a pleasure to look at and to use; it has to be an effective use of materials. I always looked for ways to make things better than the competition.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
I can always sense when objects have been created with love and talent, to be caressed and even to make you smile
