V.i: Blox Redux
- de Gustibus
- Jun 7
- 9 min read
Did you really think that The Collection’s assemblage of wooden construction blocks would remain static? Indeed, since the original post (April 2020), not only were a number of new sets acquired, representing a larger geography, but also a prayer to the designer toy gods was answered! So, enjoy the pleasures of precisionist play and (re)read on!
Nota bene: interspersed within the original (slightly revised) text are many new entries.
Like typography, toy wooden blocks are pure eye candy, with the added benefit of tactile and constructive engagement. While there is a long history of toy blocks of various materials, this post will concern itself with ones primarily made of wood from the late 19th Century to the present. Contemporary blocks are particularly appealing as many are the products of talented graphic designers. Underlying these well-executed designs is the innate appeal of simple geometric shapes to the human mind (right, Parmenides?). And fear not, devotees of non-architectonic wooden toys, there’ll be a post on them too at some point...
Welcome (back, I hope) to another post from A Year in the Library, wherein you may read pseudo-exhibition catalogues that were never published to shows that were never held at a museum that doesn’t exist (outside of my Secret Lair, that is).
To my eye, the designs of many of these blocks were heavily influenced by the Avant-garde toys of Ladislav Sutnar, especially his 1921 prototype, Build the Town. Take a look and see if you agree...
Just one book about blocks
Ladislav Sutnar Inspiration for Children. 2015
Spiral bound hardcover book by Steven Heller. Západočeská univerzita v Plzni. About 22 x 22 cm.
This is a beautifully-designed activity book that highlights the work in several media of the Czech/American artist Ladislav Sutnar. Of relevance to this post is the inclusion of a paper DIY version of his Build the Town blocks.
Original drawings for the Build the Town design and accompanying DIY patterns.
A wood prototype.
All hail Vilac and Moloch!
Factory Town. 1921 (original design) 2021 (production)
Boxed wood block set by Vilac. France. 33 painted blocks. Box about 40 x 24 cm.
Who would have thought that all those dutiful sacrifices to Moloch would have yielded such bounty (beyond the sudden paucity of screaming children in the neighborhood)? Our most heartfelt gratitude to Vilac for bringing Ladislav Sutnar’s Build the Town design to life (rebranded as Factory Town), albeit some 100 years later.
Brimming with Bauhausin beauty.
Wood that all manufacturing facilities were this clean.
It’s a block world after all...
Not only do blocks vary from designer to designer, but also across nations. While blocks are basic elements of the toy repertoire, the designers of many countries produce their own sets which reflect their country’s intrinsic artistic styles and aesthetics. Here are but a few.
GERMAN BLOCKS
Build a Skyscraper. c. 1950 (?)
Boxed wood block set by Juri. 27 stamped and dyed blocks. Box about 12 x 4 cm.
With this city in a matchbox, you can hold an entire metropolis in your hand. Or, I suppose, build your own Bottled City of Kandor.
Included are a few wonderfully not-to-scale cars to imbue your diorama with a sense of urban hustle and bustle.
Admit it. You’re thinking the same thing as I- the only thing missing is a giant monster to knock them all down...
Do be careful for what you wish...
Bausteine Cordoba. c. 2010
Wood block set by Haba. Germany. 15 painted blocks. Box about 38 x 28 cm.
Haba started as a family-owned business just prior to World War Two. It has survived conflicts both hot and cold to produce wooden toys including these. Designed by Ines Frömelt, this set looks like the fanciful love child of Antoni Gaudí and Theodore Gissel.
Don’t all the buildings in Barcelona look like this?
DUTCH BLOCKS
Brick Set No. 2. 1952
Wood block set by Sioliet. The Netherlands. 28 colored and printed blocks. Box about 21 x 18 cm.
This one’s worth it for the box cover alone. One shouldn’t be surprised to learn that it’s the work of an aptly-named graduate of the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. Rokus van Blokland (!) and his partner Corry van Blokland Mobach engaged in numerous design projects over decades which thankfully included wooden toys. With a name like that, how could they not?
Even in the box, the simple shapes form an appealing mosaic.
A rich and deep palette sets these blocks apart from many of their primary-hued contemporaries.
Archiblocks. 2024.
Boxed wood block set by ikonic. The Netherlands. 32 painted blocks. Box about 25 x 26 cm.
Designed by Floris Hovers, these architectural blocks reflect his minimalist design sensibilities infused with a sense of play.
A work of art in itself.
A city at play.
ITALIAN BLOCKS
Scatola di Architettura N. 1. 2018 reissue of the 1945 original.
Wood block set by Edizioni Corraini. Italy. 66 natural blocks. Box about 44 x 13 cm.
Created by the Italian artist and graphic designer Bruno Bunari, this set is the epitome of Futurismo.
Munari distilled the elements of modernism to just six shapes.
He frequently used books as a medium to express his design concepts and the instruction booklet is no exception.
It’s impossible not to create beautiful modernist buildings with these blocks.
AMERICAN BLOCKS
Block Village. Late 19th C. (?).
Boxed wood block set by McLoughlin Bros. United States. 27 papered blocks (not including pegs). Box about 40 x 22 cm.
This set enables one to relive the excitement of living in early 20th Century brick tenement housing. Be sure to ingratiate yourself with a local youth organization.
Printed paper designed applied over wood blocks provide the fine details of brick masonry.
A structure worthy of a Commodores song...
Building Blocks. c. 1940
Boxed wood block set by Block-House Toy Company. United States. 56 colored and natural blocks. Box about 28 x 29 cm.
From the late 19th century to the Depression, Toledo was a center of toy production in America. Although produced earlier than the other blocks described in this post, this set serves as a visual reference point for subsequent designs.
A pleasing jumble of colors and patterns...
...yielding an interesting combination of folksy and urban aesthetics.
Blockville. c. 1950s)
Boxed wood block set by Halsam. United States. 32 printed and debossed blocks. Box about 28 x 20 cm.
Founded by brothers Harold and Sam Gross (thus the name “Halsam”), the company is best known for their alphabet blocks. Fortunately for us, their production also included architectural blocks as well. The angled rendering on the box lends a unique perspective to the cover.
The combination painted, printed, and dyed blocks creates a variance of visual texture to any composition.
Well, where did you think all the blockheads lived?
Architectural Blocks. c. 1960
Loose wood block set by American Science & Engineering. United States. 19 natural blocks.
This set was acquired from a dealer who cited the blocks’ origin as American Science & Engineering, a Boston-based defense contractor that studied the effects of nuclear explosions. If the provenance is accurate, then it may be that these blocks were originally used in some exhibition or display. Perhaps it would be prudent to run a Geiger counter over them sometime...
A mid-century tableau, ready for atomic destruction.
Archiblocks Post Modern. 1989 (?)
Boxed wood block set by Bower Studios. United States. 73 natural blocks. Box about 20 x 24 cm.
In the late 1980s Archiblocks were marketed as the only wooden architectural blocks produced in the United States. Archiblocks’ designer Ron Bower started with classical Greek and Roman-themed sets and then branched out to include Egyptian, Gothic, Santa Fe, Japanese, and Post-Modern ones.
Definitely PoMo, Bro.
In your dreams, Brunelleschi!
Archiquest: Empire and Arches. 2007.
Boxed wood block set by T.S. Sure. United States. 65 papered wood blocks. Box about 40 x 31 cm.
The design from this Chicago-based toy manufacture revived the earlier practice of using printed paper overlays to enliven their wooden blocks, allowing them to issue differently themed sets by simply changing the patterns. This Roman set includes caryatids and frescoes. Marmoream relinquo, quam latericiam accepi. Would you settle for lignum?
Eat your heart out, Octavius!
An accompanying hardcover booklet includes a nice overview of possible designs.
Blockitecture Brutalism. 2014 (?)
Boxed wood block set by Areaware. United States. 10 painted blocks. Box about 19 x 19 cm.
This set is part of a series of urban-themed blocks designed by James Paulius and produced by the sadly now defunct Areaware. Paulius’ unique hexagonal blocks allow for interesting stacking combinations. With these blocks, you can create your own version of a Soviet-Era concrete edifice.
Homage to Brutalism in a set of blocks!
Fun to play with but I’m not sure I’d want to live there...
BELARUSIAN BLOCKS
Building Blocks. c. 2020
Boxed wood block set by Redbarbatum. Belarus. 24 natural and painted blocks. Box about 37 x 23 cm.
This hand-crafted set designed by a pair of architect/designers delights the eye even before it’s removed from the box.
The KonMari Method made manifest.
A precisionist’s polis.
FRENCH BLOCKS
Building Blocks (French?). First half 20th C. (?)
Loose wood block set. Manufacturer Unknown. 24 painted and debossed blocks. Tallest block is about 5 cm.
This small set enabled the construction of miniature Romanesque buildings.
Channel your inner Hézelon de Liège...
Or just follow the colorful instructions...
Building Blocks. 1930s (?)Loose wood block set by Bâtir. France. 24 colored and papered blocks. Cube block is about 6 x 6 cm.
Architects are both engineers and designers. This set was designed by renowned architect and designer Paul Huillard.
While the structural blocks are rendered in a Romanesque design, the cubist trees are altogether unique.
Not only are blocks fun, but they also provide an opportunity to surreptitiously teach architectural history.
Bloc Ville. c. 2018 (?)
Wood block set by Moulin Roty. France. 40 colored and printed blocks. Box is about 26 x 16 cm.
This set, designed by Aurélien Début, is part of Moulin Roty’s 'Dans La Ville' Collection which includes wooden toys and rubber stamp kits. All aspects of the toy’s elements have a wonderful design sensibility about them.
Every element of this set is beautifully composed, even the box inserts which illustrate how the blocks should be placed.
The blocks mix solid colors with printed patterns for contrasting design elements.
The “instruction” manual itself is worthy of a poster.
Pure chromatic joy.
Kubix Blocks. c. 2022 (?)
Boxed wood block set by Janod. France. 60 printed and natural blocks. Box is about 26 x 16 cm.
This set consists of a cardboard puzzle that, once assembled, serves as the platform on which to build a modern French city.
I call this composition, “Springsteen in Springtime”.
JAPANESE BLOCKS
Extremity Blocks. c. 1950 (?)
Boxed wooden block set, Manufacturer Unknown. Japan. 23 painted blocks. Box about 28 x 20 cm.
With a rather unusual name, perhaps owing to some creative translation, this set creates a train-themed tableau.
“All a-board!”.
Nothing like the cherry blossoms in bloom.
Building Blocks. c. 1960.
(?)Bagged wood block set, Manufacturer Unknown. Japan. 42 painted blocks. Bag about 26 x 32 cm.
This set includes both architectural and landscape blocks (including Mount Fuji!) for a more expansive landscape experience.
Can you tell the diffenrce between the Eifel Tower and the Tokyo Tower?
ENGLISH BLOCKS
BlockHaus. 2016 (?)
Boxed wood block set by Miller Goodman. England. 40 natural and colored blocks. Box about 26 x 23 cm.
The name says it all for this set designed by Zoe Miller and David Goodman. You can let your Bauhaus sensibilities run wild with these fine-edged beauties.
A nice combination of natural wood, solid colors, and tight patterns.
An inspired guide somewhat reminiscent of a Showa byobu accompanies the blocks.
Remembrance of Sutnar’s Past?
POLISH BLOCKS
Manhattan. 2018 (?)
Boxed wood block set by Bajo. Poland. 54 printed blocks. Box about 25 x 25 cm.
This urban playset was designed by Wojciech Bajor and allows the user to try their hand at being a New York City real estate developer. What could go wrong?
The urban theme is contrasted by a pastel palette. Very beautiful; especially the orange.
A base is included to help maintain strict adherence to state and city building codes. Rodentia not included.
THAI BLOCKS
Urban City Blocks. c. 2022 (?)Boxed wooden block set by Plan Toys. 45 painted and natural blocks. Box about 23 x 19 cm.
The design of this set has a general modernist appeal likely intended for a global audience. Red, considered auspicious in Thailand, is absent form the set’s palette. Would Nanno approve?
A variety of shapes let the buidler create pleaseing skylines.
A cosuin to the Kubix set?
SWISS BLOCKS
Modulon. 1984.
Boxed wooden block set by Naef. 16 painted blocks. Box about 12 x 12 cm.
These blocks are the epitome of clean-line abstraction even if their name sounds like a Transformers villain. The set was designed by Jo Niemeyer who was German, but produced by Naef which is Swiss, so...
Mondrian in a box!
A concept of an idea of a building.
SWEDISH BLOCKS
City Blocks Aiden. 2018 (?)
Boxed wood block set by Kid’s Concept. 21 colored and natural blocks. Box about 31 x 21 cm.
The blocks in this set are designed by Lotta Hallenius and have a Nordic folk art sensibility to them. They seem more conducive to building residential structures than civic or industrial edifices.
The palette here is composed of muted earth tones.
Whereas many of the sets exhibited here were designed for children and adults, this set is targeted to small children with its large and simple shapes.
It’s never too early or too late to start playing with blocks. I hope at least one of the images above inspires you to design or build something of your own.
Thank you for visiting.
Most sincerely yours,
le Compte Paul Gregoire de Gustibus.
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