Toca Boca (www.tocaboca.com), the world’s leading digital play studio, today launched the Artist Play Series, a new project that invites international artists to celebrate the synergies of play and art by creating tools for play. The result is a series of physical toys that encourage imagination and self-expression with a US-based artist creating the first product, Toca Ink, available beginning today, followed by a second collaboration with an Argentine artist available later this month.

“At Toca Boca, we are always exploring new ways of delivering fun play experiences that celebrate creativity and spark the imagination, even beyond the digital screen,” said Jens Peter de Pedro, Play Designer, Toca Boca. “With play and art so inseparably intertwined, we are excited to launch the Artist Play Series, which gives Toca Boca a unique opportunity to work with artists in their own fields to create kids’ tools for play.”

Since 2011, Toca Boca has released 25 digital toy apps that have been downloaded over 75 million times in more than 160 countries. Each digital toy is centered on open-ended play. The Artist Play Series is an extension of that belief, exploring new ways for kids to play while exposing them to different artists and art forms from around the world.

Virginia Elwood and Toca Ink
Toca Ink, the first product in the Artist Play Series, was created in collaboration with renowned Brooklyn-based tattoo artist Virginia Elwood. Inspired by the bold graphics of Toca Boca’s characters, Elwood created six temporary tattoos that feature characters from popular Toca Boca digital toys such as Toca Kitchen Monster and Toca House, allowing kids to imagine what it would be like to have a real tattoo by one of the world’s most skilled tattoo artists.

“As a tattoo artist for over 10 years now, I regularly see how tattoos spark kids’ curiosity,” said Virginia Elwood. “Kids always want to touch a tattoo, ask questions about them and even have one drawn on them. Creating the Artist Play Series temporary tattoos was a fun way of making Toca Boca tangible for kids in the real world. I spent a lot of time playing the apps to understand the character’s personalities to transfer them to a temporary tattoo design.”

Toca Ink will be available beginning November 4 on http://shop.tocaboca.com/ for $10.00 (US).

CHU
The second toy in the Artist Play Series will be created by Argentinian artist CHU (Julian Pablo Manzelli). Currently living in Buenos Aires, CHU is known for his work in art, illustration, graphic design and animation, among others. As the co-founder of the DOMA Collective, a multidisciplinary art/design collective, CHU played a key role in bringing street art to Buenos Aires.

Toca Boca and CHU will launch this collaboration at a public event in Buenos Aires on November 22. More information on the product will be available closer to the launch.

Media Contacts

North America: Sherry Shen
415-314-1759
sherry@tocaboca.com

Europe: Rebecca Crusoe
+46 70 279 54 55
rebecca@tocaboca.com

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About Toca Boca
Toca Boca is a play studio that makes digital toys for kids. Since its first product launch in 2011, Toca Boca has released 25 apps that have been downloaded in over 160 countries worldwide. With over 75 million total downloads to date, Toca Boca apps focus on stimulating kids’ imagination so that they can play and have fun in a safe digital environment with no in-app purchases or external advertising.

With offices in San Francisco and Stockholm, Toca Boca is part of The Bonnier Group, a family-owned business that includes newspapers, magazines, television, cinemas and digital media.