the best-loved toys of the last two centuries

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I can look back fondly now on Christmas morning, when my poor, sleep-deprived parents would spend hours wrestling with those little rubber sandwich ties in boxes and relentlessly searching for batteries in drawers which hadn’t been opened for years. This is exactly the kind of impatient nostalgia that Andy Brown harnesses. When the photographer was commissioned to make a series of images for the Children’s Hospital in Sheffield he decided to photograph the most popular toys since the 1880s from museum collections around the country, and the resulting surge of frustration, joy, and the memory of a veritable cacophony of electronic sounds indicates that he’s more than succeeded in brightening up the place.

1
Paper Soldiers (1890s)

2
Marbles (1880s)

5
Slinky (1950s)

Furby (1990s)
Furby (1990s)

Tamagotchi (1990s)
Tamagotchi (1990s)

Gameboy (1990s)
Gameboy (1990s)

Building Set (1940s)
Building Set (1940s)

[via It’s Nice That]

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Tom Foerstel : Founder & President

Tom Foerstel

Founder & President

Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 60’s, Tom developed a strong desire to create positive change for people and planet.

He went on to pursue his passion for art and design at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and worked for design firms in Southern California before moving to Boise, Idaho in the early 80’s. Foerstel Design opened its doors in 1985. Since its inception, the firm has cultivated a bold, happy, forward-looking team focussed on creating distinct and effective work on behalf of their clients.

An integral part of Tom’s philosophy is giving back to the community in which he lives — a company cornerstone that drives Foerstel’s long history of providing pro-bono services to local non-profit humanitarian and arts programs.

One of Tom’s proudest personal achievements is his ability to say Supercalifragilisticexpyalidocious backwards.