Cas Holman

Last updated

Cas Holman (born 1974) is an American toy designer. She is known for designing toys that emphasize creativity through unstructured play. [1]

Holman's Rigamajig line of collaborative playsets, originating as a custom play feature for the High Line Park [2] in 2011, has been included in schools and museum play areas internationally. [3] [4] Previously a professor at Syracuse University [5] and the Rhode Island School of Design, [6] [7] she is the founder and principal designer of the toy company Heroes Will Rise. [8]

Holman is the subject of an episode of the Netflix series Abstract: The Art of Design titled "Cas Holman: Design for Play," [9] focusing on her design philosophies.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Playmobil</span> Toy line by Brandstätter Group

Playmobil is a German line of toys produced by the Brandstätter Group, headquartered in Zirndorf, Germany. The signature Playmobil toy is a 7.5 cm (3.0 in) tall human figure with a smiling face. A wide range of accessories, buildings and vehicles, as well as many sorts of animals, are also part of the Playmobil line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhode Island School of Design</span> Art and design college in Rhode Island, US

The Rhode Island School of Design is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the accessibility of design education to women. Today, RISD offers bachelor's and master's degree programs across 19 majors and enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduate and 500 graduate students. The Rhode Island School of Design Museum—which houses the school's art and design collections—is one of the largest college art museums in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Playskool</span> American company that produces educational toys and games

Playskool is an American brand of educational toys and games for children. The former Playskool manufacturing company was a subsidiary of the Milton Bradley Company and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Playskool's last remaining plant in the aforementioned city was shut down in 1984, and Playskool became a brand of Hasbro, which had acquired Milton Bradley that same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorforms</span> Brand of toy (1951-present)

Colorforms is a creative toy named for the simple shapes and forms cut from colored vinyl sheeting that cling to a smooth backing surface without adhesives. These pieces are used to create picture graphics and designs, which can then be changed countless times by repositioning the removable color forms. The name also refers to the specific registered trademark brand these products are produced under, as well as the company that manufactures the toys, Colorforms Brand, LLC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Maeda</span> American artist and computer scientist

John Maeda is a Vice President of Design and Artificial Intelligence at Microsoft. He is an American technologist and designer whose work explores where business, design, and technology merge to make space for the "humanist technologist."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Educational toy</span> Plaything intended to stimulate learning

Educational toys are objects of play, generally designed for children, which are expected to stimulate learning. They are often intended to meet an educational purpose such as helping a child develop a particular skill or teaching a child about a particular subject. They often simplify, miniaturize, or even model activities and objects used by adults.

A smart toy is an interactive toy which effectively has its own intelligence by virtue of on-board electronics. These enable it to learn, behave according to preset patterns, and alter its actions depending upon environmental stimuli and user input. Typically, it can adjust to the abilities of the player. A modern smart toy has electronics consisting of one or more microprocessors or microcontrollers, volatile and/or non-volatile memory, storage devices, and various forms of input–output devices. It may be networked together with other smart toys or a personal computer in order to enhance its play value or educational features. Generally, the smart toy may be controlled by software which is embedded in firmware or else loaded from an input device such as a USB flash drive, Memory Stick or CD-ROM. Smart toys frequently have extensive multimedia capabilities, and these can be utilized to produce a realistic, animated, simulated personality for the toy. Some commercial examples of smart toys are Amazing Amanda, Furby and iDog. The first smart-toy was the Mego Corporation's 2-XL robot (2XL), invented in the 1970s

PlayMonster is a manufacturer and marketer of family entertainment products that specializes in games, children's puzzles, toys, activities, and teaching tools. As of February 2016, Patch changed its company name to PlayMonster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Osterhout</span> American inventor

Ralph Osterhout is an American inventor, designer, entrepreneur, and CEO of Osterhout Design Group (ODG). During his career he has developed a range of products spanning toys, consumer electronics, dive equipment, furniture to devices for the Department of Defense. Osterhout is named as inventor on 260 patents and patent applications. Over the course of his career, Osterhout has developed over 2,000 different products and hundreds of separate product lines for companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500s, as well as the government.

Eric McMillan, is a Canadian designer who began his career designing exhibitions. By an extraordinary opportunity in 1972, he started designing play areas and elements that encouraged children to learn through play. The concepts were composed of a great variety of materials. He has been referred to as "the father of soft play".

Arto Monaco was an artist, theme park designer, toy designer, and cartoonist. Arto is buried in Mountain View Cemetery located in Upper Jay. His mother was Ida Martin. He is the son of Louis B. Monaco, an Italian immigrant; restaurant owner and entrepreneur. In 1941, he married Glad Burrell of Au Sable Forks, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creative Playthings</span> American Toy Company

Creative Playthings was an educational toy store and catalogue that was established by Frank and Theresa Caplan in 1945. The goal of Creative Playthings was to provide simple and beautifully designed toys to promote a child’s creativity and imagination.

Lego Ninjago is a Lego theme that was created in 2011 and a flagship brand of The Lego Group. It is the first theme to be based on ninja since the discontinuation of the Lego Ninja theme in 2000. It was produced to coincide with the animated television series Ninjago, which was superseded in 2023 by a new series titled Ninjago: Dragons Rising.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Strong</span> Museum of play located in Rochester, New York

The Strong is an interactive, collections-based educational institution in Rochester, New York, United States, devoted to the study and exploration of play. It carries out this mission through six programmatic arms called "Play Partners":

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lego Friends</span> Lego theme

Lego Friends are a product range of Lego construction toys designed primarily for girls that was launched in 2012. It introduced "mini-doll" figures, which are about the same size as traditional Lego minifigures but are more detailed and realistic. The original cast consisted of Andrea, Olivia, Stephanie, Mia and Emma. The theme was rebooted and relaunched in January 2023 to focus on a more diverse cast of characters, the main cast now consisting of Aliya, Nova, Zac, Liann, Paisley, Leo, Autumn and Olly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lego Legends of Chima</span> LEGO Theme

Lego Legends of Chima was a Lego theme that was introduced in 2013 and discontinued in 2015. The product line was based on the storyline of Legends of Chima, a 3D animated television series, which was produced to coincide with the Lego theme. The storyline was set in the fictional realm of "Chima", a fantasy world inhabited by various warring tribes of anthropomorphic animals that battle to collect a substance called "Chi". Alongside the television series and several shorts based on Lego Legends of Chima. The theme also produced a range of associated media, including theme park attractions, video games, and publications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Rowe Metcalf</span>

Helen Adelia Metcalf was a founder and director of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lego Jurassic World (theme)</span> Lego theme

Lego Jurassic World is a Lego theme based on the Jurassic World media franchise created by Michael Crichton and centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It is licensed from Universal Studios and Amblin Entertainment. The theme was introduced in June 2015, with the release of toy sets and the video game Lego Jurassic World, both to promote the film Jurassic World. Subsequent sets were released in 2018, alongside the next film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Various animated projects have also been made, including the 2018 television special Lego Jurassic World: The Secret Exhibit, and the 2019 miniseries Lego Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar.

Lego DOTS are a Lego theme based on multiple shapes and colourful tiles, with 1×1 elements intended to decorate the products. These include wearable wristbands and decorative room objects that can be individually customised. The theme includes over 30 mood tiles including facial expressions, a music note, a cosmic planet, star night and paw print. The theme was first introduced in March 2020. In January 2023, The Lego Group announced Lego DOTS will be discontinued in December 2023.

<i>Blippi</i> YouTube channel aimed at toddlers

Blippi is an American YouTube channel aimed at toddlers and children up to the age of about five years old.

References

  1. Golinkoff, Roberta Michnick; Hirsh-Pasek, Kathy (2016-05-15). Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells us About Raising Successful Children (1st ed.). APA. p. 200. ISBN   978-1433822391. Take Rigamajig (http://www.rigamajig.com), an invention by Cas Holman that encourages kids to make moving structures out of big, beautiful wooden pieces that interconnect. A short look at her demonstration video tells the story of what children can do if given the tools, the safe space, and the time to explore. They organically turn into engineers.
  2. Lindner, Christopher; Rosa, Brian (2017-05-09). Deconstructing the High Line: Postindustrial Urbanism and the Rise of the Elevated Park. Rutgers University Press. p. 31. ISBN   9780813576459. ...we commissioned and build the High Line Children's Workyard Kit in 2011, a portable kit of parts designed by Abby and Cas Holman to allow children to build anything in their imagination, harking back to the High Line's industrial heritage.
  3. Birks, Kimberlie (2018-05-09). Design for Children. Phaidon Press Limited. p. 224. ISBN   9780714875194. Launched in 2011, Rigamajig accommodates between two to twenty children playing under supervision. Widely seen as a tool to encourage creativity, unstructured play and process over outcome, the kit has been adopted by museums, classrooms, and parks.
  4. Olson, Yadira Sanchez. "North Chicago resource agency to unveil 'Rigamajig' for children of veterans". Lake County News-Sun. Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  5. "VPA's Cas Holman wins Design Distinction from I.D. Magazine". SU News. Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  6. "Cas Holman | Faculty | Industrial Design | RISD". www.risd.edu. Retrieved 2019-01-07.
  7. "Cas Holman". Cas Holman. Retrieved 2024-01-15.
  8. Castella, Krystina (2018-11-08). Designing for Kids: Creating for Playing, Learning, and Growing. Routledge. ISBN   9781351968867.
  9. "Abstract: The Art of Design". Netflix.com. Retrieved 13 October 2019.