Skip to content
Vibrant cerulean blue dominates Paul Justin's Makedo Toolkit Cardboard Construction System presentation, establishing an immediate chromatic identity through saturated turquoise hues that command…

Makedo Toolkit Cardboard Construction System by Paul Justin is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2017 Platinum A' Design Award in Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design Competition Category.


PlatinumToy· 2017

Makedo Toolkit Cardboard Construction System

by Paul Justin

Client: Makedo

Platinum A' Design Award Winner in Toy Category

524,188

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #57595

Colors

The Design

About Makedo Toolkit Cardboard Construction System

Makedo Toolkit is a reusable set of tools for creative cardboard construction. The toolkit holds a Safe-saw, a Scrudriver, twenty-one Scru connectors and seven Scru XL connectors in a resealable pouch. With these three tool types, children from the age of four can cut cardboard, punch holes and join layers securely. Scissors, blades and tape place safety and function limits on young makers, so the toolkit was developed to remove those limits. Found cardboard can be built into objects of any size, alone or in groups, in classrooms, maker spaces, museums and homes.

The Recognition

About the Platinum A' Design Award

Makedo Toolkit Cardboard Construction System is a Platinum A' Design Award winner, an extremely prestigious recognition granted to truly exceptional, elegant, and magnificent designs. Platinum winners are marvels of creation, testaments to the limits of intellectual creativity, and demonstrate the unmatched professionalism and genius of their designers. These designs are expected to be the most renowned works that define the aesthetics of an era, contribute to the well-being of society, and push the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. Makedo Toolkit Cardboard Construction System exhibits a transcendent level of excellence and unequivocally makes the world a better place with its advantageous and worthwhile characteristics. Makedo Toolkit Cardboard Construction System is a Platinum A' Design Award-winning work that triggers desires, inspires, excites, delights, and sparks great joy.

Where to Get It

Creative Construction Tools for Kids

We design innovative tools that empower children to transform cardboard into incredible creations. Our award-winning Makedo system combines safe cutting tools with reusable connectors, enabling young makers to build anything imaginable. Perfect for homes, classrooms, and maker spaces, our tools foster creativity, problem-solving, and hands-on learning through play.

Shop Now

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties
Makedo is a simple to use, open-ended, reusable system of tools for creative cardboard construction. With just three customised tools: the Safe-saw, Scru and Scrudriver, children as young as four can safely cut, punch holes in and securely connect layers of cardboard. Makedo is designed for girls and boys, young and old, individuals and groups of all skill levels to make anything imaginable, of any size with found cardboard.
Dimensions & Packaging
Resealable Pouch: 12 (W) cm x 4 cm (D) x 24 cm (H) Contents: 1x SAFE-SAW, 1x SCRUDRIVER, 21x SCRU, 7x SCRU XL. A growing library of free 3D print files is available online (hinges, brackets, tools) to extend and enhance the Makedo system.
Tags
stem, steam, education, maker, cardboard, imagination, play
Design Challenge
Using cardboard as a making material for creative projects is not a new idea. There are however inherent limitations with the use of standard ubiquitous tools such as scissors, blades and tape to craft cardboard. They pose safety risks to the maker and functional limitations on the making itself but more importantly they set limitations on what can be achieved by young makers independent of adult intervention. The focus for this project was therefore in developing tools to empower young makers to work with cardboard safely and intuitively to manifest their ideas from minds eye to 'I made it'.
Inspiration
The story behind Makedo is the tale of a designer working from home and having his day punctuated by his children requesting 'props' for their imaginative play. A shield here, a helmet there, possibly a turreted castle with working drawbridge! The desire to support his children to manifest their wild imaginations in the real world (and get some work done!) precipitated a light bulb moment for Paul Justin and Makedo was born. Makedo now empowers kids the world over to create a hackable world of their own making.

Makedo aligns with global shifts in education wherein creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration are integral to learning. Makedo fosters the natural inclination of the child to learn by making and doing.
Operation Flow
Find some cardboard, grab some Makedo tools and get started. The awesomeness of Makedo is that children learn by doing, creating, experimenting, failing and maybe succeeding but that's not essential. The creations then open the door to imaginative play where the child is protagonist in a hack-able world of their own making. Makedo comes to life in collaborative creative environments such as classrooms, maker spaces, museums and of course homes.
Image Credits
Makedo

Sponsored

Explore Beyond Designers.org

Discover products, services and opportunities from our advertising partners.

Good Design Deserves Great Recognition

The A' Design Award is an international, juried accolade for good design. Take part in the A' Design Award to get an opportunity to earn meritocratic recognition, gain fame, prestige and publicity for your work. Nominate your work for the A' Design Award and compete for the coveted A' Design Prize.

Nominate