Building Life Through Motion
An Analysis of Chico Bicalho's Kikkerland Critter Toy line.
People love to humanize objects. Ancient Egyptians depicted their gods as animal hybrids. Chevron’s commercials feature talking cars. Mickey Mouse has a pet of his own. Chico Bicalho, Brazillian designer for Kikkerland, does just the same with his wind-up toy line.
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Bicalho spent his early years immersed in nature. Starting in 1996, he has been working on the reforestation of the Atlantic Forrest with his friends. Following his life in Brazil, Bicalho came to the United States to attend RISD and NYU. After getting his MFA from NYU, he started crafting his very first critter; inspired by Japanese-style gearboxes. The toy was originally only sold at two stores, but since 1997, Kikkerland has distributed the toys.
Bicalho has stated that his creations are modeled after animals that are rarely appreciated by people, like insects. In an interview with FutureLab, he explains his philosophy on human-nature relations. Bicalho says,
“The difference being, we have the strength to destroy the planet, and no other animal does, meaning, we, humans, if seen from a distance have taken the form of a plague, infecting the Earth. Sounds ugly, but it is the truth; we are the scum of earth, if viewed by any other form of life on the planet, aren’t we?”
Bicalho’s designs reflect just that. The toys are supposed to represent nature just as it is. Bicalho forces the people to find beauty in alternate aspects of the critters, such as motion. The toys bounce, climb, and dance all in different ways. Each toy’s personality becomes clear once they are wound up and let go. Bicalho’s critters speak to us in the universal language of motion.
Each toy in the “critter family” seems lifelike and animalistic, despite being made of metal scraps. Kaitita a bouncing toy, and Awika, a climbing toy, have their mechanical parts exposed. These designs show every working part, like how an animal shamelessly displays its behavior. Kaitita has four springy wire legs, a small boxy torso that houses the gears, a brass wind-up key in the place of a tail, and a rounded metal head that spins on a wire neck. Awika has twelve tiny legs, a long bar for a body that also contains the gears, twin green wind-up keys, and a spiral of strip metal that expands and contracts when active. Both have rubber coated feet that look like rain boots. These design choices like this make the toys seem lifelike without making an exact model of a real-life creature.
Kaitita has an attitude. The toy was actually modeled after a real-life pitbull of the same name. The pitbull gained fame in Rio by protecting a young boy from a pack of aggressive dogs. The toy reflects the dog with its bouncing legs, whirling key, and gyrating head. When pitbulls bark, they bark with their whole body. Their heads move riotously and their tails wag excitedly. Pitbulls are known for their robustness and vigor, and Kaitita’s unpainted metallic body mirrors that. The toy and the pitbull may not be graceful, but they both stand out with their fiery personalities.
Awika is the inquisitive one. The critter scuttles on its little legs and the spinning feet help it climb over objects. Awika is an explorer, overcoming any hurdle. Bicalho did not state if Awika was modeled after a specific animal, but the toy looks like a lizard. The inflating metal spiral implies the coiled up tongue, and the slanted holes in the keys mirror reptilian eyes. The firetruck red toy pitter-patters on its blue rubber feet. All the while, its sparks seem to scream, “Watch out! I’m coming through!” Awika is a toy on a mission.
Part of the toys’ success comes from its price and size. On the Kikkerland website, Awika retails for $20.00 and Kaitita retails for $14.00. In fact, all of Bicalho’s toys cost between $14.00 and $30.00. To complete the entire collection, one does not have to spend a lot of money or worry about the toys taking up too much space. In a collaboration with Gift for Life, Kikkerland was able to raise $60,000 for various charities in 2016. Bicalho’s critters contributed to this amount, proving its popularity. In sum, the toys are inexpensive, compact, and widely admired.
Bicalho’s toys do not bring nature to the consumer, but encourage people to look for nature in everyday objects. Awika’s and Katita’s bodies are inorganic, but their personalities mimic the souls of living beings. Currently, profits from the critter toys go to Bicalho’s reforestation project. His work has come full circle, from constructing his own creatures to rebuilding the homes of real animals. Bicalho stated that all creatures on Earth are interconnected, and that includes those created by man.