Anchor blocks have been manufactured in the factory of the same name in Thuringia since 1875 and are among the oldest system toys in the world. Now, the building blocks inspired by Fröbel pedagogy have been reinterpreted in cooperation with Njustudio. The result is two Ankersteine New Play boxes that invite children and adults alike to create new worlds.
At first glance, they look like ordinary building blocks, but anchor stones are not made from wood, but from an old recipe of sand, Rügen slurry chalk and linseed oil. That's why they are so heavy and pleasant to hold and smell so fragrant. Anchor stones are therefore a very sensual affair and have already inspired Walter Gropius, Albert Einstein and Bill Clinton. They were developed in 1875 by Friedrich Adolf Richter, who was inspired by Fröbel's pedagogy and created the world's first system toy with the Anker blocks.
Unlike other construction toys, the Anker bricks are neither screwed nor plugged together. Their shape and weight alone create the necessary statics to build even very large structures.
The anchor stones have always been beautiful and appealing, but now the traditional manufacturer from Rudolstadt has teamed up with Njustudio and the Coburg creatives led by designer Nina Wolf have developed two new boxes. The planning phase lasted one and a half years, and now two sets of 42 beautiful and completely newly developed anchor stones are available. The team immediately fell in love with the heavy, cool stones with their special scent and Nina Wolf says: "Anchor stones are an inspirational toy, not just for children. They are honestly sustainable."
The Ankersteine New Play boxes are available in two versions: for day and night people. The night box inspires in deep night blue - peppered with bright accents. The day box impresses with bright, day-friendly and colorful stones. As a box bonus, the wonderful story of a creation - told by Leipzig-based illustrator Julia Kluge - encourages you to become a free spirit and storyteller yourself. "Anchor stones," says Wolf, "don't dictate anything and yet they want to be combined - without a predetermined goal, without right or wrong, without being fixed."
The anchor stones are made by hand and a lot of experimentation was necessary for the new sets. "We brought completely new colors such as midnight blue or lilac into the boxes," explains Operations Manager Ines Schroth. "To do this, we incorporated even finer sand and completely remixed our usual color pigments." The result is impressive. The new boxes are real art pieces to play with and invite children and adults alike to combine and discover.
Ankerstein GmbH is part of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt Rudolstadt association and is run as an inclusive company. The sets, which are limited to 500 pieces, are only available in the creators' stores at www.anker-bausteine.de and www.njustudio.com.
You can find out more about product design here ...
