Reviving Traditional Play with Cubecor: A Wooden Puzzle Toy

Designer Esmail Ghadrdani's Award-Winning Toy Enhances Creativity and Motor Skills

With the rise of digital entertainment, traditional toys have taken a back seat. However, Esmail Ghadrdani, a visionary designer, has breathed new life into traditional play with his innovative design, Cubecor. This wooden construction toy, inspired by the need to offer children a simple yet engaging product, aims to enhance creativity and motor skills while being mindful of environmental issues.

Cubecor stands out from other toys due to its unique properties. It consists of 27 wooden cubes that can be attached to each other using various easy connections, including magnets, Velcro, and pins. The process of finding connections and piecing together the cubes makes this toy a unique puzzle. The positive and negative features of the Velcro glue and magnets add a layer of complexity, enhancing the puzzle-solving experience.

The toy is crafted from walnut, pinewood, and maple using woodworking techniques such as CNC, table saw, chop saw, and bend saw. The technical properties of the toy include 27 wooden cubes, each measuring 40mm * 40mm * 40mm. The use of natural materials and traditional woodworking techniques underscores Ghadrdani's commitment to environmental sustainability.

Cubecor is more than just a toy; it's a system that offers fresh opportunities for discovery every day. It stimulates users to seek parts to fill them, and because imagination is limitless, Cubecor has no preprogrammed outcomes. This design encourages children to think creatively and familiarizes them with colors and simple, complementary, and functional fittings. It also reinforces their three-dimensional understanding by persuading the child to complete a simple and familiar volume.

The design process was not without its challenges. Due to the variety of connections, they needed to be positioned together so that the set is complete. Planning for them was very important. Eventually, with lots of testing, the connections were fully assembled in the best possible way, and the method of connecting them together increased the appeal of the product.

Ghadrdani's innovative design has not gone unnoticed. Cubecor was awarded Silver in A' Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design Award in 2021. The award is given to top-of-the-line, creative, and professionally remarkable designs that illustrate outstanding expertise and innovation. These designs, admired for their strong technical characteristics and splendid artistic skill, showcase a remarkable level of excellence and introduce positive feelings, amazement, and wonder.