Nicolas Tokotuu, designer and creator of Nikoss Toys comes from a Pacific island called Wallis and Futuna. This small island of 10,000 inhabitants is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between Fiji and Samoa. Resources on the island are very limited. Although the vital resources are still coming by boat, you will never see a lot of “extra” resources imported, especially toys.
“You will not find any toys on my Island [Wallis and Futuna] or you may do but at an insane price. And that’s one of the reasons why when I discovered 3D printing last year I had the idea of creating Nikoss’ Toys.” – Nicolas Tokotuu, Nikoss Toys
Nikoss’ Toys is a brand of digital toys which will be downloadable and printable from all over the world. Starting out 6 months ago, Nicolas begun designing different series of figurines: Nikoss’ Animals, Nikoss’ Insects, Nikoss’ Dinosaurs, Nikoss’ Creatures, Nikoss’ Fish. He chose figurines as his first toys because they are the perfect accessories when children create stories. Children make the toys interact by talking, waving at each other, following each other, etc. This actually makes the child dive into their own story and helps them create their own world. 3D printing allows this world to be limitless, which means the imagination of children will be limitless. Children will not need to create their story according to the toys they have at home anymore, they will be able to imagine a whole new world everyday and print as many different toys as they want. Unfortunately, 3D printed toys so far have not been very attractive for children, especially because of the surface quality. Rough, fade and drafty are not what children are looking for.
“I love PolySmooth, it is just as easy to print as PLA and children can safely watch the printing process without being exposed to nasty fumes. Furthermore children can actually participate in the creation of their toys from downloading to the printing & polishing, truly creating an end product.” – Nicolas Tokotuu, Nikoss Toys.
Nicolas used to print his toys with ABS and PLA, then post processing the toys to make them smooth and attractive to children. But he faced a lot of problems: ABS may be the easiest to post process but if you have children at home it is not very safe to let them participate to the creation of their own toys. The fumes from the printing can be toxic, and the acetone from the polishing process can be dangerous in many ways. Moreover, the printing conditions of ABS are quiet specific. Whereas PLA is the easiest to print, you would want to keep your child away from any of the solvents used in post processing. Furthermore, the post process itself is not easy to accomplish correctly. Polymaker has solved all of these problems by creating PolySmooth and its new desktop machine the Polysher.
“I love PolySmooth, on one hand it is just as easy to print as PLA and children can safely watched the printing process without exposing them to fumes. No more hassle with ABS. On the other hand, I love this material because the support is as easy to remove as ABS. Last but not least, the Polysher allows a polishing process completely effortless and semi automated, while most importantly, much safer for children. Which means that children can actually participate in the creation of their toys from downloading to the end product.” – Nicolas Tokotuu, Nikoss Toys.
If you love Nikoss Toys as much as we do you can download all the files from Nicolas’s Thingiverse account
