How did this design improve life?:
Stix is a concept that grew from our belief that children nowadays spend to much time behind their tv. Watching worlds created by others instead of creating them by themselves. We believe that their creativity as a child and later as an adult, suffers from this.
By combining Stix children can build great constructions, like camps, tents, and many others, in or on which they can play. By allowing kids to build according to what they believe, they learn to use their creativity and they gain insight in the basic principles of constructions.
Furthermore we chose to keep Stix as simple as possible so that it is lift to a higher level solely by the imagination of the child. What is a giant bird for one child, can be a jet or ufo for another one. They can build camps that they protect using blowpipes, or tents to sleep in on a summernight.
Basically Stix is a revision of one of the world’s oldest toys, the treebranch or stick. But since not everyone nowadays has the luxury of having a forest in its backyard, we believe Stix can make up for that. Stix is also more than a branch, its hollow structure make it easy to use as blowpipes, or it could even become a musical instrument. They can be easily stored are easy to keep clean, and are very durable. Some are very flexible to create curved edges, bows, and the more; others are sturdy to build strong structures.

Stix will profoundly improve the lives of many children by allowing them to be creative. And who knows, maybe their parents will like playing with it as well.
Also it could be a great toy for example for scouting troops.

All this said, the true credit for this toy should go to the children who will use it to make up their own fantastic world.

Name of Designer(s):
Joost Vannieuwenhuyse - Bart Maesen

Designers professional status:
Student

Status of realization:
Not realized

Kind of design:
Tangible

Year of production, realization or publishing:
2005

Designed in country:
Belgium

Used on continents:
Entire World

Short description of design:
Stix is a concept that will make children want to play outside again. It makes use of the creativity of the children and through this enables them to construct their own worlds in or on which they can play. Its possibilities are nearly limitless.

Functionallity and use of design:
Stix can be combined to create amazing structures, they are durable and flexible.
Because they are hollow, they can be used as blowpipes and are easy to store.
They come with a stretchy fabric that can be used for example as roofing.

Drawbacks of life improvement:
Because it allows for any construction a child can think of, sometimes less safe constructions might be built resulting in a risk for the child. however it can also be seen as a learning school, for life itself is full of risks, and yet children get through it every day. Yet we know that this is a problem that might still need to be resolved.

Research and need:
Own observations and discussions with other people led to our conclusion that children spend to little time outdoors and to much time behind their tv.