Why The Toy Society

Welcome if you've clicked here from Whipup or Craft Zine (!!). I've had a lot of lovely emails and comments full of love for The Toy Society and lots of questions too and I realised I hadn't really told you how The Toy Society came about.

It came about from a love of "street art" but a recognition of my lack of artistic skills. I really wanted to contribute something to the street scape. I'd watched a friend put his work up about the place and got such a buzz walking past random walls in the city and seeing his work. I thought maybe I could sew something instead. And so The Toy Society was born.

I planned to leave toys around the streets to brighten up the place and give people something interesting to look at. And then I imagined what they might look like if they were still sitting on a light pole 5 weeks after they were put up...all faded and manky and rotten. So I thought I should invite people to take them home, share the love and all that.

I've been sitting on the idea for about 4 years and come up with many different versions of implementation (at one stage it was all ghosts) and even made some sample toys until finally I just decided to stop thinking and go for it.

And I couldn't have imagined the response! It was something I planned on doing myself and maybe dragging some mates along to help put the toys around the place. I considered that maybe a few people here and there might like to join in some how. I never expected the amazing global response I've received and the number of people who want to get involved.