Eames Revives ‘Little Toy’ For All Ages After Retiring It Over 60 Years Ago

Image via Eames Office

The Eames Office, in a delightful blast from the past, has brought back The Little Toy, a charming variation of its iconic creation, The Toy. This marks the first time the model has been reintroduced since 1961, sparking nostalgia and creativity for generations old and new.

Image via Eames Office

Originally designed by renowned duo Charles and Ray Eames in 1952, The Little Toy was conceived as a tabletop adaptation of The Toy, which had debuted the previous year. While The Toy was designed for people to play “in,” The Little Toy was created with the intention of being played “with”—a subtle yet significant distinction.

This scaled-down version allowed children and adults alike to craft small sets, tents, and houses to complement other toys and objects. Unlike the flexible materials of its predecessor, The Little Toy employed more rigid cardboard panels for its construction. This delightful creation remained in production until 1961.

The design of The Little Toy retained the same core concept as The Toy: providing users with the freedom to build regular or irregular constructions based on their imagination. However, to suit its smaller size, The Little Toy incorporated colored cardboard panels with added durability, replacing the plastic-coated paper used in The Toy. Furthermore, the dowel rods from the original design were replaced with wireframes, simplifying the assembly process.

Image via Eames Office

The Eames Little Toy served a dual purpose. First, it addressed the issue of space, as the full-size The Toy had a substantial footprint. Second, it was designed to enhance the play experience when used alongside other toys, offering children an enriched and imaginative playing experience. Just like its predecessor, The Eames Little Toy came with instructions that not only guided users on what to do but also presented numerous examples of the endless possibilities it offered.

Manufactured by Tigrett Enterprises of Kansas, the same company responsible for producing the full-size version, The Little Toy was available from 1952 until it was discontinued in 1961.

Now, after more than six decades, The Little Toy is back, offering a delightful opportunity to explore prefab architecture and modular space, all while reflecting the Eameses’ ingenuity in adapting readily available materials for unexpected uses. 

Image via Eames Office

This reissued kit features brightly colored panels and wireframes in the form of squares and triangles, which can be connected in myriad ways to create toy houses, hanging geometric sculptures, and architectural desktop structures.

Image via Eames Office

The revived Little Toy, priced at US$79, is not merely a piece of history but an invitation to unlock creativity, just as it did when it first charmed audiences over half a century ago.

[via Wallpaper and Eames Office, images via Eames Office]