too cool for kids...

When I say too cool for kids.

 I mean that literally.

I'm ashamed to say that I find myself jealous ( and not for the first time) of items that have been designed for small people. When we were growing up, unless you were wildly wealthy, there no design literate toys and furniture. Of course that's all changed now and it's about to be taken up another level by Kingdom favourites kartell.

These guys and their designers can make anything look cool and desirable but I never thought I would see the day I wished I was a seven year old boy.

Today I do. Then I could tear up and down my street in one of these glorious creations.

A toy tractor called Testa Calda and a race car named Discovolante are made from sheets of tinted plastic, which are shaped into seats and chassis. Designed by Lissoni, the small four-wheeled rideable vehicles come in a range of colour combinations.

Come on, who wouldn't want to drive one of these around your neighbourhood...

This year at Milan 2016:they launched a whole new collection of products aimed specifically at children including a minimal rocking horse by Nendo and a swing by Philippe Starck. Kartell has used its signature plastic-moulding technology to produce the range, which also includes pieces by Italian designers Piero Lissoni and Ferruccio Laviani.

The rocking chair by Japanese studio Nendo, which is based on I-beams used in building construction. It is composed of two curved surfaces – one forming the head and seat; the other providing the rocker – and a flat vertical section that joins the two.

French designer Starck's iconic Louis Ghost chair for the brand is reinterpreted in miniature, and can be customised with graphics like drawings and photos laid onto the round seat back. Similar patterns can be applied to the tops of mini versions of Kartell's range of tables, as well as the surfaces of fishbowl-shaped FL/Y lamp shades by Laviani.

If this isn't enough to make you want to revisit your childhood I don't know what would...

Queen Marie