A mini children's pottery workshop designed in Quebec for an American company is sold in around 90 countries. A revolutionary toy (1000 revolutions per minute to be exact).
Updated yesterday at 9:00 am.
Apparently all ceramicists will tell you that. With a potter's wheel, the trick is to first center the lump of clay on the press – the rotating plate.
“The Make It Real Mini-Pottery Workshop's ingenious centering device is at the heart of the play experience,” says Montreal industrial designer Dominique Roy, vice president of industrial and advanced design for the American company.
It was he who suggested to this company specializing in games and creative activities to design a toy wheel for the production of mini pottery.
Inspiration came when he saw photos on Instagram of a potter sculpting tiny vases on a standard wheel.
“I thought the idea was funny and started researching it. »
He discovered that making miniature ceramics had hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts and that mini spins were offered online.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY MAKE IT REAL
The mini pottery workshop offers around ten projects. But once they master the technology, children can work with their hands free.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY MAKE IT REAL
The mini pottery workshop includes three stencils with profiles that attach to the transparent bell to guide the modeling tool.
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He got one and ran some tests.
“The first thing I made was a bit like an ashtray,” he admits without false shame.
Pottery wheels for kids are really a – let me put it politely – lighter version of the original. You put both hands on the sound and the engine often stops.
Dominique Roy, Vice President of Industrial Design and Advanced Design at Make It Real
The pressure of the palms on the clay, the difficulty of correctly dosing the moisture, the poor centering of the piece – all this leads to a resistance that often strains the electric motor beyond its capacity.
The Make It Real design team addressed the problem.
Surprisingly, this team is largely based in Quebec.
The Quebec sector
Make It Real is based in Maryland and employs approximately 80 people worldwide, including more than twenty in Quebec.
The company was founded in 2016 by American Isaac Wolman and his wife Sara Gibber. However, Wolman was previously vice president of sales at creative toy company Wooky Entertainment in Montreal.
He felt that Montreal had everything needed to start an R&D team.
Dominique Roy
Its advanced design team includes a designer in Montreal, another in Magog, one in Halifax and one in Hong Kong.
“Of course,” he says, “the products are made in China.” »
After this detour, return to the tour.
Work around the problem
Dominique Roy began working on the miniature tower concept in January 2022.
“I started the project and then worked on the mechanical aspect with my designer in Hong Kong. The project was then handed over to my designer in Magog, who worked intensively on the centering tool and refined the design. »
In fact, it's all about the patent-pending centering device.
SCREENSHOT OF A MAKE IT REAL VIDEO
We attach a template to a slot in the wall of the bell, which guides the modeling tool when profiling the clay cylinder.
SOURCE: SCREENSHOT FROM MAKE IT REAL VIDEO
The set includes three templates with different profiles that allow you to sculpt miniature pots and vases.
SCREENSHOT OF A MAKE IT REAL VIDEO
To make it easier to arrange the sound on the removable Girelle – the turntable – a three-part tube is temporarily attached to it.
SCREENSHOT OF A MAKE IT REAL VIDEO
The tube is carefully filled with clay, then a hub is glued into its center through a cover, allowing perfect positioning.
SCREENSHOT OF A MAKE IT REAL VIDEO
After the tube is dismantled and the crank is reattached, a transparent bell is placed on the lathe, with a needle attached to the top that stabilizes the hub.
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A three-piece hose is temporarily installed around the small removable press. The tube is carefully filled with clay, then a hub is glued into its center through a cover, allowing perfect positioning. The assembly is then disassembled, leaving only a clay cylinder perfectly formed around its hub.
Once the girelle is reinserted, a transparent bell is placed on the lathe, with a needle attached to the top that stabilizes the hub.
We attach a template to a slot on the side wall of the bell, which guides the modeling tool as it gently shapes the clay cylinder.
“We act at one point and not with two hands on the model,” emphasizes Dominique Roy. “It’s much less demanding on the engine. »
Therefore, the designers were able to install a reasonably powerful direct drive motor without noisy gearboxes. “It's super quiet, it's relaxing. It's really satisfying. »
The clay that comes with the toy dries and hardens within 24 hours.
Four to five prototypes were required to produce the final product. During experiments, children suggested making the previously opaque centering cylinder transparent.
We knew that everything would be aimed at a fairly wide age range. If we had drawn something that looked too much like a toy, we would have limited our success.
Dominique Roy
Especially nowadays, children appreciate high-quality design. “They are still quite young and have access to iPhones and electronic products whose design is extremely sophisticated,” notes the designer.
In short: “We arrived with a pretty sophisticated design”.
connoisseur
The Make It Real mini pottery workshop, which launched in the summer, is distributed in around 90 countries.
The first deliveries came in the summer, early enough for retailers to stock up in preparation for the holidays.
“The results are really good. We have a retailer in England who was already out of stock in the first week of December,” notes Dominique Roy. “It is our bestseller in China. »
The product “has already received several awards and accolades, including Most Innovative Toy of the Year.” [le jouet le plus innovant de l’année] from the China Toy Association.