Gender neutral Accompany 

Frida&Marie

When gender differentiation becomes a trend in product design, how can we stay neutral in the process of raising children with so many differentiated products for Children? How can we keep our children free from gender stereotypes and grow up to be brave, confident, and strong? The inspiration of “ Frida & Marie” comes from questions and reflections on the gender factors in Toy-Design. Frida Kahlo and Marie Curie were some of the most prestigious artists and scientists in history. With this project, I created hand puppets for the professional female idols, and let children grow up with the accompany and the stories of the great women, in order to encourage girls to have confidence and dreams in different disciplines and professional fields. As “a role-playing game” have Hand-puppet stronger educational meaning than normal puppets. During playing with hand-puppets, the creativeness, expressiveness, teamwork ability, and all kinds of other social skills of children are promoted. In order to create diverse interactions with the current Hand-Puppets, and achieve the educational purpose, I have designed two supporting roles for Frida to make her story more interesting to tell and to perform.

Frida Kahlo

When I designed for Frida, I have consulted a fashion designer from Mexico. The hairstyle of the puppet has reproduce the traditional Mexican hairstyle “Trenza de bola”. And for its clothes, I have chose Frida Kahlo` s favorite Mexican traditional dress “Traje de Tehuana”, but the style is closer to the Design as a fashion icon in current fashion area. With the new look of Frida, I want to show her distinct personality, her special interest and unique taste of fashion.

Marie Curie

When I designed for Marie, I have reproduce her blond hair, grey eyes, light skin and her typical serious expression. The puppet has two sets of clothes: a dark blue old working dress, which she often wears outside other clothes when she works, and a white shirt with black skirt, which have simple style with a little lace as decoration. The outer plain working dress and the inner simple style shirts and skirts represent different images of Marie in work and life: strict scientist, knowledgeable professor and graceful woman with independent thoughts and unique ideas about aesthetic.

Guillermo Kahlo

Frida` s father is a photographer from Germany. When he was 18, he came to Mexico alone. After many years in Mexico, he opened his own photography studio in Mexiko-Stad. His career as a photographer and his passion of watercolors has deeply affected Frida's interest in painting and art. Kahlo's design comes from Frida's family photos and Frida's painting for his father. He is serious and reticent. In the portraits, he always wears a dark, old-fashioned suit with meticulous hair.

Doctor

Because of the health problems of Frida, her doctors had always played an important role in her life. Hand-Puppet doctor was designed based on a portrait of Frida` s doctor, which was draw by Frida. Interestingly, her doctor has the same eyebrow like hers.  The the form and color of curtain has imitated Frida` s former residence—“the blue hause”.

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