EITECH Tick Tock Clock

Inclusive interview for afilii:

Marta, please tell us a little bit about your background. Why do you design educational toys?

I'm studying Industrial Design at the HTW in Berlin and I'm about to do my final thesis. In the fifth semester we had a joint project with the toy company »eitech«, which makes construction toys. »Eitech« gave us all the freedom to design various new products or series for children. So I had the opportunity to explore the topic of design for children in depth for 1.5 months and to discover that this is extremely exciting, but also very complex.

How did you come to ticktockockock as a result of your project work?

"Eitech" has a model kit that is popular in schools, however mostly appeals to boys. Since our university teaches according to the principle of universal design thinking, I decided to design a product for children that also gives girls the opportunity to get familiar with construction toys. Unfortunately, children's toys are too often gender specified. For this reason, I had the idea of ​​using a construction kit to explain the function of a clock to children – a topic that appeals to girls and boys alike. In addition, there are hardly any offers on the toy market that create knowledge and insights for children in a playful way.

How and where was ticktockocklock made?

I built the model at the university, at home I slowly felt my way around and tried to understand the function. It was very clear to me that the housing should be made of wood: Wood is a natural raw material from which high-quality children's toys can be made. »eitech» also uses wood for its model kits. I processed it with a CNC milling machine in order to emphasize the child-friendly but also modern style in the model. It was important to me that a child can look at the inner workings from the outside in order to understand the physical process of a clock. For this reason I also decided, in the end, to leave ticktockocklock's case open.

How complicated would you rate the construction of a watchcase? How long does it approximately take a child to assemble ticktockocklock?

When I told a clockmaker about my project, he just laughed. After I had intensively dealt with the subject of clocks, I managed to reduce the complexity to a minimum. Thanks to the prefabricated parts of the »eitech« construction set and instructions, it is easy and understandable for children from the age of nine to recreate the clock. They can assemble the clock within an hour - but the more time the child takes, the more it learns. For example, there is the possibility of replacing one of the gears several times; through this the child learns to build a clock with six, eight or even twelve hours. In order to further improve the learning effect, it can individually redesign the outer housing, e.g. with ink.

Do you want to design more products for children in the future?

Next up is my bachelor thesis. I already have a lot of ideas for this, but I'm also looking for a toy company that I can work with on a long-term basis.

In the children's area, I would like to devote myself next to building caves. From the age of two, children try to create their own retreat. In my opinion, there are not enough promotional toys here either.