rom now on, you’ll never throw your straws away. Jix is a smart construction game allowing you to get ingenious, arty, and skillful. Moreover, it’s recycled and recyclable, 100% made in the USA, and easy to carry and play anywhere.
D esigned and produced by artist Patrick Martinez, Jix is so simple, yet it came after a long research and numerous prototypes. It consists in small white connectors, which allow you to connect straws togather for endless creative possibilities.
Jix gallery installation. Photo credit: Patrick Martinez
The Jix white connectors come in flat grids : easy to mail, jolly to snap appart! Best thing after bubble wrap. Just get your regular straws ready to start your construction. The material is extremely light as well, making it cost and waste-effective in terms of packaging and shipping. Jix is also designed to be manufactured with the least possible plastic waste.
Photo credit: Patrick Martinez
Once all the connectors snapped from their grid-shape, they can be used separately, or combined together into a star-shape for more complex inventions. Possibilities are limitless: depending on the colors of the straws, their lengths (yes, be bold, use scissors!) their bending ability or not, one can make anything from a scandinavian inspired suspension, to a table or a lightweight outdoor sculpture.
From the start Martinez wanted Jix to be simple, easy, smart, designed with conscience, and for it to engage imagination, ingeniosity, and motor abilities. For that matter, Jix is more and more in use with teaches and therapists for people of all ages.
Building with Jix at Jamin Rochefort Highschool – France. Photo credit: Julien Danton – Yves Muller
Jix is the real thing (I could spot a couple of similar attempts on line…), and getting it guarantees the high quality of the materials, their precise cutting, and the valorization of the designer’s idea and involvement.
From the MoMa store in New-York, to the Tate Britain or an appearance on Limitless, when you get Jix, you get a piece of design, produced consciously.
For more info : Blank bubble, the designer’s website. To oder Jix and enjoy, this way.
