Bedankt voor alles (Thanks for Everything) Piet

Some people are a pleasure to work with.. this chap Piet Peeters is one of them.

Today, he retired from Inalfa Roofs Systems in Venray, the Netherlands after working there as a Prototype engineer for the last 43 years.

We (his colleagues at Inalfa) offered him an Orange Applause Machine (No. 43 / 250) to say "Bedankt voor alles / Thanks for everything."

Here's the colleagues saying "Thanks and cheerio" to Piet and enjoying the vlaai (very nice cake from the Limberg area of NL.)

And here I am saying "All the very best Piet, ENJOY!"

"Cheering" Applause Machines.

This is one of my favourite Applause Machine photos.

The wooden wheel has rotated and positioned the mechanism towards the top of the brass slider. At this point in the movement the hands and arms are wide apart. If the movement is stopped here, I always imagine that the Applause Machine is "cheering".

Applaus voor jezelf LINDA

A "vrolijke" (lively) Red Applause Machine is currently featured in the Fun Facts section of Linda magazine. (Edition No 60: July 2009.)

The title "Applaus voor jezelf" is pronounced (more or less) "Applause for yer-self" in English. It goes to prove that just sometimes,,,,, Dutch isn't so difficult to understand.

Laikingland's open studio

There's so much development going on at the moment over here in Laikingland that I've not had chance to post for a while.

In September we will be taking part in HOST, Huddersfield Open Studio Trail. Once again we will open our doors to all and give them an early preview of our "three" new designs that will be launched later in the year.

Icon Product Yearbook 2009

Some nice pictures in this book.....

And here's my favorite page.

Congratulations Man Utd

Hope I'm not tempting fate by blogging a "Congratulations to Man Utd" before they win the English Premiership this weekend (only 1 point needed....)

A friend of ours has positioned his "Red Devils Goal Celebrating Applause Machine" next to the TV.... A perfect way to celebrate as the goals start flying in.

ABC News, Australia

The Applause Machine's new range of colours, that will be released at London Design week in September, have been leaked onto the internet by ABC News in Australia. Well I guess that's their job to break really important international news stories.

More to come in the following weeks on new colours and new kinetic objects.

New staff in Laikingland

Due to the demand for our Applause Machines we needed more staff here in Laikingland. Fortunately we have found Thomas Oliver Jennings who is currently studying for a Degree in Product Design at our local University (Huddersfield). He will be helping us out with our packaging and distribution and here you can see him working out how to fit his hand into a cardboard box.

Now we have more staff we are back to needing yet more space!

Applause Machines: Front Page News

A photo of our Applause Machines has made it on to the front page of a Dutch national newspaper

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The NRC Handelsblad chose to publish the above image for the weekend edition (28 Feb - 1 March) while we were at the Kinetica Art Fair in London.

My Dutch language skills aren't so great (only been here 7 years....) but my friends in Utrecht translated that all the other stories on the front page aren't very good news. Therefore it's nice for the NRC readership to see a big, cheerful, orange Applause machine to give a few hundred thousand people something to smile about.

Fair Play

One of our main goals at Laikingland is to encourage everyday playfulness through people enjoying our products.

An interactive exhibition of 50+ Applause Machines at the Kinetica Art Fair seemed like a handy (sorry) way to get our message across ....

This lady seemed to get it!!! Fair play to her.

All the fun of the Kinetica Art Fair

Nick explains the finer points of Applause Machine manufacture while drinking the wonderful coffee from Gail's Bakery.

All the fun of the Kinetica Art Fair

It has been an amazing weekend here at the Kinetica Art Fair. The opening night attracted over 2500 people, some old, some very young, but all of them smiled when they saw the Applause Machines. I think we met and talked to just about everyone who came through the door and as a result both Nick and I lost our voices.

Laikingland at the Kinetica Art Fair

We have arrived at the Kinetica Art Fair, set up the exhibition of 51 Applause Machines and are here until Monday. 

Kinetica Art Fair 2009

Laikingland are taking part in the Kinetica Art fair in London from the 27th February until the 2nd March. We will be exhibiting 46 Applause Machines in a range of colours along with the 5 brand new ones that we will be releasing later in the year.

Click on the image above for more information

Both Martin and Nick will be there and they look forward to seeing you.

Venue: P3

Adress: 35 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5LS.

Underground: Nearest Tube is Baker Street.

Rail: Nearest overground is Marylebone.

Kinetica Art Fair website.

First Delivery (and Sales) at Frozen Fountain.

Following the release of The Frozen Fountain's fabulous newsletter / announcement, described below by Martin, we made our first delivery to this wonderful Amsterdam store. The machines we’re very well received by the local clientele, with the first sale coming just 5 minutes after delivery and the second less than 10 minutes later!

Dick and Arne (above) seem to be discussing how many machines we'll need for the next delivery. Quite a few if things continue like this!