Atelier Pierre wants to be more than just a design label. When CEO Frank Vanhalst and MyMachine co-founder Piet Grymonprez met, a successful collaboration between the two social added value seekers was always in the cards. MyMachine is a Belgian non-profit association that gives pupils worldwide the opportunity to take part in a unique ‘maker’s programme’ that coaches them in the creative development of an idea into a prototype. One of the first prototypes was the friendly ghost hunter. The ghost hunter was conceived and developed by a team of Flemish schools and it is the first concept to be translated into a design object through the collaboration with Atelier Pierre.
MyMachine is a Belgian non-profit association that aims to foster creativity and entrepreneurship among children and young adults worldwide by coaching them in the production process from idea to prototype. Thanks to the collaboration with Atelier Pierre, ‘myBOO!’ is the first MyMachine product to be translated into a design object. Icing on the cake: the friendly ghost is passed on from child to (disadvantaged) child and is fully recyclable to boot.
Activating the ‘myBOO!’ ghost hunter is simple: all parents have to do is press and hold the ON/OFF button for two seconds. The friendly ghost will then hunt down bad ghosts in a number of one-minute phases and colours ranging from red (danger) to blue (good ghosts are spared) and green (safe!). Children can accelerate this process by gently tapping the ghost. Once the ghost hunt is over ‘myBOO!’ continues to emit white light for ten minutes. Then the light dims and it’s time for bed. This way ‘myBOO!’ not only makes children feel safe but it also fosters positive contact between parent and child (as well as a good night’s sleep for both).
Pass on, recycle and register
The icing on the cake is that children can use the QR code on the packaging to pass on their ‘myBOO!’ to a disadvantaged child. And since every ‘myBOO!’ consists of several individual modules, every section can be fully recycled via the proper waste stream. In addition, the children can register their friendly ghost on the ‘myBOO!’ website. This way every child can check the online world map to see which cities and areas are ghost-free.
The icing on the cake is that children can use the QR code on the packaging to pass on their ‘myBOO!’ to a disadvantaged child.
MyMachine
Young children are very creative. Unfortunately most education programmes don’t take this skill - an indispensable aspect of successful entrepreneurship - seriously enough and most children lose their creativity as they grow older. MyMachine wants to change all that. Founded by Piet Grymonprez, Filip Meuris and Jan Despiegelaere, the Belgian non-profit association is on a mission to foster creativity and entrepreneurship among children and young adults worldwide. Every year MyMachine launches an appeal to schools to put together teams who, for an entire school year, will take part in the creative process of a dream machine and help develop an idea into an actual prototype.
The methodology is unique: primary school children think up a dream machine that is translated into a concept with the help of students in higher education and subsequently turned into a functioning prototype with the assistance of technical students in secondary education. Over the last few years, tens of thousands of ideas submitted by children have resulted in functional prototypes of a chip canon, an anti-boredom machine and a thigh smacking machine, to name but a few. In recent years MyMachine has earned international recognition, amongst others as a recipient of the United Nations World Summit Award. Meanwhile the West Flemish non-profit association is also active in Slovenia, Norway, France, Portugal, South Africa and the US through licence partnerships.
‘myBOO’ is the very first idea and prototype to hit store shelves thanks to the collaboration with Atelier Pierre. The luminous ghost (14.7 cm x 20 cm) will be for sale in concept stores, book shops and children’s fashion shops as of October. With every item sold, €2 of the sales price of €45 flows back to MyMachine.
Creative & sustainable entrepreneurship
Atelier Pierre is the design studio of the family business Vanhalst from Wevelgem. As the West Flemish company was built on creative and sustainable entrepreneurship, Vanhalst and Atelier Pierre like to give young designers the opportunity to develop their first collection of living accessories. The new collaboration with MyMachine also dovetails perfectly with Vanhalst’s ongoing pursuit of social added value.
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