ZOLOTOPIA A New Classic for
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Janet Payne
What does it take
to meet the needs
for design innovation in today’s world?
As two graduates of the Art Center
at the College of Design in Pasadena,
California, have shown, innovation
requires first identifying a need, then
solving a design problem by drawing
on both graphic design skills and art
knowledge.
A Need for Innovation
While working on a graphic design
job at FAO Schwartz, entrepreneurs
Sandra Higashi and Byron Glaser
recognized a need for something
new in toys.
The result was
the birth of Zolo,
an innovative, inter-
active toy designed
and produced by Higashi
and Glaser and distributed
by the Museum of Modern
Art (MoMA) in New York.
“We thought of Zolo
as a sort of new classic,
abstract expressionist bundle of fun,”
say the creators.
The toy is
dedicated to
the idea that
all things wiggly, straight, skinny,
blobby, square or round, plain, or
spotty can come together as one
extraordinary creation.
The Design Phase
The initial idea for Zolo evolved
from thumbnail sketches into fifty
original pieces based on classic
“stick in hole” construction.
Refined sketches were drawn
with colored markers and pen-
cils on tracing paper, and then
actual models were constructed
from balsa wood and foam,
materials that felt good to hold and
manipulate. “We put holes in funny
