Lance Chen
HEARTMAN
Toy Heart
TOY ｜ CAMP EDI PROJECT
Lance Chen
HEARTMAN
Toy.
Photography.
The theme of Camp EDI project is 'ture north'.
True North
At the same time, these two passions have shaped who I am:
Toys introduced me to industrial design for the first time in elementary school and planted the dream of becoming a toy designer. Photography taught me to see the world from different perspectives and gave me the motivation to explore it.
My “true north,” is the two passions that have shaped my entire life: toys and photography.
Throughout my college years, aside from studying, I spent nearly all my remaining time playing with toys, collecting them, or taking photos. No matter how stressed I was, photographing the world or spending time with my toys always brought me joy, helped me relax, and recharged my energy.
This is my EDI Camp project — Heartman.
The name comes from one of my favorite games, Death Stranding, inspired by a character of the same name.
I wanted to express the importance of toys and photography in my life—and how they have guided my path—through the form of a toy / interactive sculpture. The toy therefore has a main body that represents myself, along with two sets of interchangeable heads and hearts that symbolize toys and photography. By attaching different components, the player can change its appearance and identity.name.
Camera Head
&
Heart
Main Body
Toy Head
&
Heart
HEARTMAN
Toy Head
This is the toy’s head, and when you press it, the eyes light up.
The head design is inspired by 'JOE', the first — and so far the only — toy I have ever created.
This is its toy heart.
When it is removed, it gets placed into this heart frame.
This is its camera head.
I incorporated some fundamental characteristics of a camera, then added distinct details to differentiate it from a typical camera design.
‘JOE’
Camera Head
Camera Heart
This is its heart, and the shape is inspired by the Mamiya RB67 — a film camera that I really love but never ended up buying.
Mamiya RB67
Mamiya RB67
And since they all use the same LEGO-like connector system, they can be freely mixed and matched.
More Combinations
During the process of designing and making this toy, I could genuinely feel how the EDI program’s atmosphere was gradually influencing me.
When I created the first toy of my life, it had never crossed my mind that I could embed a circuit inside its head and make it light up. But after learning about the resources available in the EDI program and being inspired by everyone around me, I decided to try building and soldering the circuit myself. In the end, I succeeded in creating the press-to-light feature for Heartman’s head.