Playing with Design

Like Bruno Munari or Charles Eames, the designer Fredun Shapur (born in 1929) made a particularly daring and inventive contribution to the world of children.
Between the 1960s and 1980s he designed toys for manufacturers such as Naef in Switzerland, Galt Toys in Great Britain, and above all Creative Playthings in the United States. From wooden puzzles to animal disguises made from paper sacks, Fredun Shapur’s toys still have the power to challenge and enchant, while his use of color and graphic refinement remain strikingly modern.
Fredun Shapur also illustrated children’s books, and produced one of the most remarkable corporate identities for a toy company, defining the Creative Playthings image through a logo that has become iconic.
Recognition of Shapur’s diverse oeuvre is long overdue, and this first monograph reveals his commitment to the belief that play and the imagination are at the heart of learning.