Something fishy, this way comes

Toy design too a dramatic turn in the sixties, as the influence of the space age and new manufacturing possibilities and materials began to spread. Some designers, such as Sir Terence Conran, who founded Habitat in 1964 issued in a very distinctive style of home furnishings with a simple, functional feel. This ‘space age’ aesthetic found its way into toy departments, with companies such as Galt and Trenton producing wonderfully simple and tactile toys for children from pre-school upwards.

Mothercare stores were the largest retailer of baby care products in the sixties and seventies and shared the minimal, approach to its products, especially with toys such as the Ballbarrow and this Bathtime Fish.

I recalled this bath toy very well as it was one of the toys I bought for my niece many years ago, as she was the first of a new generation in our family. Even then it struck me as unusual, as rather than using bright primary colours and more organic shapes, it followed a more abstract style and used a palette which was more suited to kitchen utensils. The almost Henry Moore abstraction of the fish shape lends itself well to small hands and the body breaks down into a set of simple tools to play easily with water or sand.

The fish motif is only really recognisable by the suggestion of a tail and dorsal fin and the almost incidental inclusion of simple eyes and round mouth. Patrick Roland’s, the inventor of Trendon’s design award winning Playplax, also made a fish toy, on an almost sculptural level, together with a wonderfully simple bird, which are still available today, as masterpieces of toy design. 

 

Ryland’s Playplax are a series of square and tubular sections of colourful Perspex, which slot together to make larger shapes. Again, it is the idea of dexterous play, pared down to its simplest constituents - shape and colour.