The fun, functional control of hands-on fabrication is no secret to designers, and it's similarly obvious to kids. You could say the same for the creative potential of simple materials. The new Hamaika furniture project, created by Spanish designer Unai Rollan, taps into that tactile interest, blending simplicity and functionality for both adults and not-there-yets. 

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The name Hamaika is Basque for 'eleven,' which references the project's core design feature: each piece of furniture is made from 11 pieces of wood, each cut to the same length. 

The little chair in particular captures the pared down inventiveness of Enzo Mari's DIY minimalism with an IKEA-type user-friendliness. 

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The result is a small person sized piece of furniture that would be easy to use as a learning project on tools and dynamic center of balance. Or it could be the base for more creative expression, a blank canvas for your progeny's monstrous Mod Podge masterpiece.

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Mmm, flat packin'

Given the blatant simplicity of the idea, it could be accomplished on your own with a few tools and without buying more than a 1x4 or two. But for parents or interior decorators with limited space and time, the flat packing Hamaika could be a gentle learning curve on which to introduce the importance of stark modernist anti-capitalist furniture design. 

As they say, it's never too early to teach them that "design is dead."

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