Play exhibition presents Modernist toys at a London furniture showroom
London Festival of Architecture 2015: London studio Systems has organised an exhibition that brings together forgotten 1960s toys including Interslot, Bird and Fish, and Marble Run (+ slideshow).
The Play: Toys, Sets, Rules exhibition at furniture brand Walter Knoll's London showroom will feature a range of Modernist children's toys.
![Plytek Chair, Ken Garland + Associates c.1965, unrealised prototype](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Plytek-Chair-prototype-by-Ken-Garland-and-Associates-Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
The exhibition, which opens tomorrow, will run alongside a series of workshops designed to encourage learning through play and making.
![Galt Post Office, Ken Garland + Associates 1967, produced by James Galt](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Galt-Post-Office-by-Ken-Garland-and-Associates-produced-by-James-Galt-at-Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
The toys on show were sourced from the personal archives of their designers: Roger Limbrick, Patrick Rylands, Fredun Shapur and Ken Garland – a loosely associated group that emerged in 1960s London.
![Playplax, Patrick Rylands 1966, produced by James Galt](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Playplax-by-Patrick-Rylands-produced-by-James-Galt-at-Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
During that time a number of designers began to think about the kind of objects that children could learn from as they play, and about their own work as designers in the same context.
![Fädelfische, Fredun Shapur 1980, produced by Selecta-Spielzeug](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Fadelfische-by-Fredun-Shapur-produced-by-Selecta-Spielzeug-at-Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
Now largely forgotten, the toys that resulted from the period are described as "extraordinarily generous, humane and beautiful objects" by Systems, which curated, designed and produced the exhibition.
![Balancing Troupers, Fredun Shapur 1963, prototype (later realised by Kurt Naef)](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project-Balancing-Troupers-prototype-by-Fredun-Shapur_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
"Play offers a unique survey of late Modernist approaches to child development and design and, as such, a variety of ways in which we might think of both play and design as formative and speculative activities," said the curators.
![Interslot, Roger Limbrick c.1964, produced by Roger Limbrick Associates](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Interslot-by-Roger-Limbrick-Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
The toys on show include Limbrick's Interslot – a series of coloured plywood squares with different shapes cut out of them and slots enabling them to be connected into three-dimensional forms.
![Bird and Fish, Patrick Rylands 1970, produced by Trendon](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Bird-and-Fish-by-Patrick-Rylands-produced-by-Trendon-at-Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
Bird and Fish by Rylands are rounded bath toys designed to be easy for young children to hold onto.
![Play – Modernist Toy Exhibition by Systems Project](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Marble-Run-by-Ken-Garland-and-Associates-produced-by-James-Galt_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
Ken Garland's Marble Run is a forerunner of the contemporary version, comprising two wooden uprights connected by a series of diagonal runs through which a marble can travel from top to bottom.
![Play – Modernist Toy Exhibition by Systems Project](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Open-Side-Dolls-House-by-Roger-Limbrick-produced-by-James-Galt-at-Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
Other designs that feature in the display include an open-sided doll's house, a set of blocks that stack into an octahedron, and a prototype for a chair made from interlocking wooden planes.
![Slow Truck, Patrick Rylands 1972, produced by Creative Playthings](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Slow-Truck-by-Patrick-Rylands-produced-by-Creative-Playthings-Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
They will be shown with a number of continental designs from the same period lent to the exhibition from the personal collection of Marion Hine, who founded a workshop programme called Thinking by Making in 2011.
![Ark, Rumbold Gallery c. 1970, produced by Creative Playthings](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project-Ark-by-Creative-Playthings_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
Hine developed the workshops from a model originally conceived in collaboration with Limbrick, to enable children to use card construction and other materials to "let their imaginations run wild".
![Jumbling Jumbo, Isaac Weinfeld + Jan Vinot c. 1955, produced by Paul and Marjorie Abbatt](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Jumbling-Jumbo-by-Isaac-Weinfeld-and-Jan-Vinot-produced-by-Paul-and-Marjorie-Abbatt-at-Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
A series of these workshops for 7- to 12-year-old children will be held for free alongside the exhibition.
![Grabber, designer unkown c. 1960, produced by Konrad Keller](https://static.dezeen.com/uploads/2015/06/Grabber-produced-by-Konrad-Keller-at-Play-Modernist-Toy-Exhibition-by-Systems-Project_dezeen_468_0.jpg)
Play runs at Walter Knoll's Charterhouse Square showroom until 3 July, as part of this year's London Festival of Architecture.