© Masaki Koizumi
Once upon a time, Japanese-born fiber artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam was exhibiting a large crochet sculpture in a gallery in Japan, when children started playing on the piece. Three years later, MacAdam completed her first large-scale crochet for kids. The lovely, loopy play structures have been coming ever since.
The whimsical net structures offer children an explosion of color, texture, and the bounciness of net – no cold metal or lifeless plastic here. Happiness ensues!
© Masaki Koizumi
© Masaki Koizumi
In 1990 Toshiko and her husband Charles MacAdam established Interplay Design and Manufacturing in Nova Scotia, Canada, to develop the concept of play ‘sculptures’ on a commercial scale. The first project was for a national park located in Tokyo. The children’s park-in-a-park won a national design award in 1992. To this day the project continues to offer thrills and delight to the children lucky to play there.
© Masaki Koizumi
© Crochet playgrounds
The structures are as strong as they are lovely to look at and rely upon specially designed net which is resilient and responsive to the slightest movement.
© Charles MacAdam
The innovative designs allow tension to be maintained as the fiber stretches, ensuring safe play. In fact, each project is engineered by Norihide Imagawa, one of Japan’s pre-eminent structural designers.
© Masaki Koizumi
To see more of the wonderful work, visit NetPlayWorks.