Art!
Meet OuiSi! They will soon be your guide through the wonderful land of Inktopia. All they ask is that you bring your colors, because things are unfortunately lacking color around there!
Practical Flow Knowledge
Paired With Play
A lifetime of play has left me with a lot of experience in ways to play. While certainly the study of circus arts as a way to play has been around for centuries, the science of studying play and how it works in our bodies and minds is relatively new. At the same time, the scientific study of the flow state has advanced, and we now know that play and flow are massively entwined. A working knowledge of flow and play can synergistically work to uplift each other in your life, improving quality of life, satisfaction and productivity at work, and fostering joy.
It is my hope to spread this knowledge to those who wish to learn it, so that as many people as possible can benefit.
Feel free to check out a few flow videos here.
Who We Are
Here at Utoypia, our mission is to create bioavailable, sustainably sourced, kinetic toys for all. What does that mean, and why is that our mission?
Why: While modern plastics offer a huge range of durability and flexibility, they all come with a few disadvantages: they are sourced from petrochemicals that are bad for the environment (in terms of their sourcing, chemically, and also in terms of global climate change), and they don’t biodegrade, sitting in landfills for eternity. As I began the process of starting my own company to make toys, I became overwhelmed with the amount of plastic waste I was producing. This caused me to research alternatives, which in turn led me to where Utoypia is today.
How: All our materials are as sustainably sourced as possible. We have spent huge amounts of time sourcing, designing, building, testing, and refining our products to create something truly unique. Fabrics, solids, paints, dyes… everything is as natural and biodegradable as possible. You can find a breakdown (pun intended) about the materials each prop and it’s parts are made from on the page for each toy. At this point, everything we make is literally compostable with the exception of any metal parts such as swivels, and the poms we are currently using.
Why are the poms not sustainable yet? We have been working with mycelium to grow our own poms and balls, and while this is exciting, it also is taking a long time to develop a product that we are happy enough with to market. We are in fact successfully growing them. There is nothing like them anywhere. They float, are fire resistant, have good weight, and are durable. The trick has turned out to be the coating, which is still in development. So, at this time, we are using what is available on the market while we develop new techniques. It is highly like that by the end of 2024, we will be printing poms out of green materials.
Alas, none of this is an inexpensive or time conservative approach. This does mean that a bit of cost is passed on to you, the consumer. However, we do our best to provide competitive pricing and a durable, hand made product that will last. As we move forward, we will be adding more products and constantly iterating our current products to make them even better
Also, you can learn more about me and what I do here.