"What the hand does, the mind remembers." - Maria Montessori
This 5-piece playset was inspired by the rising trend of matcha latte on Instagram and TikTok, not just as a drink but also as a ritual. By incorporating Montessori principles, this project is my attempt to translate these actions into a toy that supports a child's motor development skills, cognitive development, and cultural curiosity.
VISUAL RESEARCH
Researched existing matcha sets, Melissa and Doug playsets, and other indie toy brands to find answers to the following questions:
1. How much are real-world objects simplified to make them more play-appropriate?
2. What is the color palette for existing toys in the domain I'm designing for (e.g. play pretend)?
ROUGH SKETCHES
Made rough sketches to figure out the components for the playset. Settled on the following:
- Milk pitcher
- Chawan and
- Matcha scoop
- Whisk and whisk-holder
- Teacup
ITERATIVE SKETCHES
Iterated on the chosen components to settle on form.
PROTOTYPING
3D printed three iterations of prototypes at different scales from their fusion models to verify and validate their real-world proportions.
3D VISUALIZATION
Instead of Blender, I used Cinema 4D and Maxon Redshift to render these images.
