Overview

This is a story about life, about imagination, about being in the present and existing in the past; this is a story about painting, drawing, chopping and changing; about thinking, discussing, arguing and listening. This is a tale of a century of creativity and how 'things' come to define who we are. Tom Karen is the Vimp, and Aircruiser and a Water Line Ship; he's a 'Big Fat Peace Bomb', a Bond Bug and the Marble Run; he's the Chopper bike and the 'man that designed the 1970s'; he's every one of his thousands of sketches contained in London's Victoria & Albert Museum - each a testament to a lifetime of artistry and creativity. He's also a living embodiment of a life immersed in inventiveness, imagination and thought: visit his home and you will see his world come to life with papier-Mache birds, life-size toy dogs and various model Marble Runs hogging every corner of his house; his work-bench is a vibrant collage of creativity, from hand-drawn maps and postcards to newly devised toys for his ever-spoilt grand children and their friends. He's a real-life 'Geppetto' - a man who lives for children and for creativity, and should his toys ever come to life they would have such a story to tell. From his early life in Czechoslovakia, his journey fleeing Nazi Germany across continental Europe, and his formative years in the UK as a Jewish immigrant landing on these shores with little-to-no money; through to his ascent to the top of the design tree, becoming the 'man who designed the 1970s', and his later years as a creative polymath and design mentor. In Toymaker Tom Karen presents some of the most cherished items that tell a story of not just an extraordinary life, but show the importance of nurturing one's own imagination.

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9781788700863

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'Fascinating, illuminating and upbeat' * The Automobile Magazine *

Author Information

Tom Karen was born in Czechoslovakia in 1926, into a relatively well-off Jewish family based in the city of Brno. Following the rise of Nazi Germany, his family had to flee their home country, settling in the UK via Belgium, France and Spain. A creative at heart, Tom trained in product design at Central St Martins and went on to work at Ford and Hotpoint before taking over Ogle Design, when its founder, David Ogle was killed in a car accident. It was at Ogle where Tom reached the top of the design game, inventing the Chopper bike, the Marble Run, the Scimitar GTE and the Bond Bug, amongst many other cult transport vehicles, and toys and games loved by kids the world over.

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