Boxing Clever

SMART THINKING:Here's one architect who refuses to be defeated by the recession: Elaine McCabe has designed purpose-built, recyclable houses for kids – just in time for Christmas, writes GEMMA TIPTON

ONE OF THE most exciting things to happen to me when I was little is that we got a dishwasher. This may sound like the start of an Angela's Ashes-with-appliances type of memoir: a deprived childhood, unenlivened by anything save the appearance of white goods; but it's actually quite the opposite. The thing was, this dishwasher came in a box. And I still remember that box. It was left in the garage, and it was big enough for my brother and I to climb into, to hide in, and then to cut doors and windows out, and turn it into everything we could think of – forts, castles, boats, spaceships, racing cars, before it fell apart, that box had a hundred different adventures.

Most parents have had the experience of watching their children get more fun from the boxes than they do from the things those boxes contain. But there’s only so many dishwashers and washing machines a family can use, so the opportunities have been, up till now, limited.

Then, one day, while staggering back from the local electrical shop with another enormous empty box for her children to play with, architect Elaine McCabe had an idea. What if you could buy just the boxes? What if they came flat-packed in bright colours, in a cardboard that was easy to for kids to work with? What if you could get a variety of sizes, and stickers to go with them, and what if even the wrapping paper became part of the fun? And with that, the Clever Box Club was born.

The Clever Box boxes, which are launching next Saturday, are fantastic. Sitting in McCabe’s kitchen, we’re surrounded by examples. Her children, Cathal, Aisling and Caoilinn, who range in age from three to 10, have turned the basic box shapes and sizes into a space rocket, a shop, a castle, a wendy house, and a kitchen – complete with ironing board. All are gaily decorated with pictures and stickers; the shop has a hatch that can be opened and closed, and a letterbox for deliveries. The space rocket has lost its boosters, though I have a feeling I recognise one of them doing duty as a tap in Caoilinn’s kitchen. Best of all, as McCabe demonstrates, when the kids have finished playing, the little velcro strips that hold everything together can be removed, and castles, trains, pirate ships, puppet theatres and secret hideouts can all be collapsed and stored out of the way behind the sofa.

McCabe studied architecture at UCD, graduating a few years behind her brother, Paschal Mahoney, and after pursuing separate careers (in Helsinki and Moscow), the two returned to Ireland and went into practice together as Mahoney Architecture, going on to win awards from Opus and the RIAI. “We got a fantastic start, and I had 10 good years,” says McCabe, “but in 2007, I decided I wanted a bit of a break. I had three children, and the practice was like a fourth child, so I was torn.”

As things turned out, McCabe’s decision was just a couple of months ahead of the economic slowdown, which architects were some of the first to feel. A tall, elegant woman, McCabe comes across as full of dynamism and creativity, so it’s no surprise to hear that the “bit of a break” was soon to be devoted to developing a new business idea. “I had also been making children’s furniture, fantasy pieces like pirate ship beds, and dolls houses that were also toy boxes, so I was thinking of doing more with that, but the box idea was the one that really took off. I decided to give it six weeks, to see what I could turn it into, and I never stopped.”

Cathal, Aisling and Caoilinn were called on to be as inventive as possible: “They’ve been inspirational, they’ve helped with scale, sizes, ideas. We’ve come up with a scavenger list of things you can find around your own house, and they’ve been trialling them all the way along.” There’s a creative background to the family, from Aisling remembering how her mum makes “doll’s underpants from socks”, back to McCabe’s own mother Tess, who made her daughter a bedside locker when she was little, from cardboard covered in wallpaper. “She also made me a doll’s hospital out of boxes, and a Western street, complete with saloon, for my brothers.”

The Clever Box boxes let each child be as creative as they want to be. “For some children, the fun is in the actual making of the boxes, while for others it’s the play once they’re finished.” For this reason, although the flat packs come with a booklet to get you started, that booklet is only the beginning. “I worked with graphic designer Alan Nolan to make the stickers and shapes and the booklet,” says McCabe. “It was really important to get that bit right, so that kids wouldn’t feel they were being told what to do, so that they got excited about the possibilities.”

Another important input came from her brother. “Paschal is still very much the vocational architect, and Mahoney Architecture is his main thing, but he has a little boy, too, and with each little add on, the whole family has been involved.” Brother and sister are also both passionate about how the boxes help kids learn through play. “The government has a policy for architecture for national schools, and this is a teaching resource that can help kids learn about architecture and the built environment. There’s also spatial relationships, engineering and graphics. It stimulates a whole range of skills, and we’re making the boxes in white as well, which we think will interest creches and schools.”

McCabe is also keen to emphasise that the Clever Boxes are 100 per cent Irish designed and made, and also totally recyclable – so when all the playing is done, and the box has been everything it can possibly be – you can just pop it in the paper bin, and start over with a new one.

As McCabe says, you’re never too young to have fun with architecture, and if the success of another architect-turned-toymaker is anything to go by, she could well be right. After all, we all know what happened when Mr Rubik dreamed up his multicoloured cube.

Clever Box Club boxes cost from €19.99 to €24.99. For stockists see cleverboxclub.com, or tel: 087-2299991