Meet Maria Mandea, a Play Designer From Bucharest

Maria Mandea designs and creates playful objects and experiences for all ages

Play is essential, regardless of our age. “It allows mistakes, discovery, and the creation of new realities,” says Maria Mandea, a play designer from Bucharest, Romania. Not sure what a play designer does? Actually, the role of “play designer” is a job title that Maria invented herself to most accurately explain what she does.

Allow us to elaborate... Maria designs and creates playful objects and experiences, such as toys, stop-motion animations, apps, and games.

Growing up with artist parents, Maria learned to sew before she had learned to read or write. Her mom, a costume designer, would make clothes for Maria’s dolls and toys, and taught Maria to do the same. Aged 16, after flirting with the idea of becoming a train mechanic and traveling the world, Maria set her sights on becoming a toy designer and began taking academic drawing lessons.

She went on to study Product Design at the architecture university in Bucharest, “always choosing projects related to play,” adds Maria. Today, she is undertaking a PhD at the arts university in Bucharest, researching how to design play and playfulness.

After completing college, thinking about her next steps, Maria knew she wanted to be her own boss. She invested all the money she had saved thanks to the projects she had been working on throughout her degree in setting up a design studio with her best friend: Super:Serios, which makes urban games and art installations.

While at university, Maria had launched her own brand, Micul HAOS, as a side project. Today, Micul HAOS is Maria’s full-time job. The description on the website reads: “Playful art objects, experiences and collector’s items for the kid inside.” “Micul HAOS” means “little chaos” in Romanian. Maria was inspired by a short film with the same name, directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

In the “About” section, the brand goes into more detail about what they do, explaining that they make puppets for animation (from character concept to the finished tangible puppet); create concepts and prototypes for mascots and toys that will add a playful touch to a brand; and design and bring to life original artwork and collector’s items.

Maria often collaborates with other creatives and sells her creations online. Under the umbrella of Micul HAOS, Maria is involved in all things creative, from making wire-frame characters and soft toys to creating animation, illustration, and photography projects. To create her hand-made characters, Maria uses innovative and everyday materials, such as paper and textiles.

Maria counts Bruno Munari, Fredun Shapur, the book “Serious Play” (which features the work of designers such as Ray and Charles Eames and Alexander Girard), Victor Brauner, and Joan Miró among her influences.

Who inspires you? Let us know in the comments below.

In her Domestika course, Soft Toy Creation for Beginners, Maria invites you to step into her playful world. She will teach you to create an original soft-toy character using textiles.

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