flowlight: A "light-pixel" Designed for flowtoys!

A few years ago, I was learning how to spin poi (more on that some other time :) ) and I met a couple of really amazing and wonderful people; Sean and Prisna of flowtoys. I had been toying with the idea of designing my own poi, as the available products on the market were merely cludged together watch-battery driven leds in some re-purposed padded case.

When I met Prisna we began discussing poi and when I mentioned my interest in designing something that used a aaa battery that could use standard sized rechargeable batteries. She immediately introduced me to Sean, and said "you two need to talk!"

Sean had been building toys, some of the best on the market to date. Still the products were constructed from available parts and repurposed products. He had never been fully satisfied with what was "available" and been dreaming of building his own "light pixels" for use in their products.

Thus began an amazing project, and a wonderful friendship. We have been working together ever since, designing, and producing, several products for the flowtoys line of toys.

The flowlight is the flagship of this collaboration. Sean's extensive knowledge of spinning and great relationship with the spinning community and my almost 15 years of designing products allowed us to put together a product that is world class. The flowlight is incredibly durable, (I should post a link to Sean demonstrating - violently - how tough these things are) bright, with a beautiful organic design that works with the needs of the end user, and satisfied our desire to contribute an artful object to the world of 'things'.

rendered image of the final concept for the flowlight.

It is now going in to it's 3rd generation of production, and we're very excited by the positive reception it's been getting. Check it out on flowtoy's web site flowlight product page

Go buy some of their products. You'll be supporting a wonderful couple and their efforts to bring high quality fun products to the world! Of course they're fun to play with too.

What is Synthetic Nature

We strive to conrol the world around us. Our control is limited only by our tools and our understanding of our tools and the world we are trying to contol. As we become more thorough in our understanding of this world, and more sophisticated in the development of our tools, the limitations become diminished and our designs move toward ideal. The forms we most appreciate are forms that remind us of the good parts of who we are. The forms we most desire are those that remind us that we are alive, and vital.

Synthetic Nature is my philosophy for design... it is how I interact with the world. Analyzig and responding; Synthesizing ideas and physical manifestations of htose ideas, that recognize our physiology and our beauty.

Welcome to my ideasphere.