Step inside his home and you'll see papier-mâché birds, a life-sized cardboard tiger, model cars; his work bench a vibrant collage of creativity, from hand-drawn maps and postcards to newly devised toys for his beloved grandchildren. Tom Karen is a toymaker, creative genius, award-winning designer and one of the world's most remarkable inventors. From inventing the Marble Run to designing the iconic Raleigh Chopper bike and creating the Bond Bug, Tom's designs are cherished the world over, but behind these fantastical creations lies an equally remarkable life.
Born in the 1920s into a wealthy family and raised in Czechoslovakia by nannies, Tom had a lonely upbringing and longed for pencils, paper, paints and brushes. His childhood was short-lived when Tom and his family had to flee for their lives following the rise of Nazi Germany. It was this formative experience that would transform Tom's life. Arriving in the UK, Tom would establish himself as a creator slowly building the career that would see him dubbed 'the man who designed the seventies'.
Told through the prism of Tom's incredible designs, Toymaker is a story about life, about imagination, about being in the present and existing in the past; about painting, drawing, chopping and changing; about thinking, discussing, arguing and listening. Tom's life is a tale of a century of creativity and how 'things' come to define who we are - and help us look ahead to where we're going.
- 432 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
Information
Topic
ArtSubtopic
Artist BiographiesTable of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Contents
- 1. Home Thoughts
- 2. The Lost Boy
- 3. The Journey
- 4. Flights of Fancy
- 5. Three Style
- 6. Learning Curves
- 7. White Heat
- 8. Turning up the Volume
- 9. Finding My Way
- 10. In The Fast Lane
- 11. Battle of the Bikes
- 12. Baby Steps
- 13. Game Changer
- 14. Tangerine Dream
- 15. Fiftieth Percentile Man
- 16. Big Business
- 17. Selling The Dream
- 18. Total Design
- 19. How I Saved the Iphone
- 20. The Ogle Recipe
- 21. Showing Off
- 22. Coming up for Air
- 23. Fresh Start
- 24. Tomorrow’s World
- 25. Growing Old Gratefully
- Acknowledgements
- Plates
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Yes, you can access Toymaker by Tom Karen in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Art & Artist Biographies. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.