Tool/Toy Project

Tool/Toy Project is the shared practice of two Welsh designers, Rachel Jones and Maegan Icke.

Tool/Toy Project explores themes of degrowth, play, domesticity, and urban planning with the aim of imagining alternative societal structures that don’t incentivise ecological destruction and social exploitation. Using the objects of work and play, tools and toys, Rachel and Maegan tell stories of speculative worlds and reimagined futures.

Rachel Jones is a designer, craftsperson, and forager. She has spent the last two years researching naturally derived colour as an essential part of place making. This research highlights the ability to read colour and see natural dyes as a representation of our environments. Having originally trained as a jeweller, Rachel’s work often questions the role and relevance of endangered heritage crafts in contemporary and future life.

Maegan Icke is a Welsh architect/artist currently based in London. Maegan has experience working at internationally renowned practices on a range of projects, including schools, workspace, housing, and research proposals. Drawing on the economic, scientific and mythological her past projects question how artefacts, activities, and strategies can enable us to imagine and initiate a more generous and caring urban future.

Their work has been presented at Oslo Architecture Triennale, PrimeYarc, KooZA/rch, Birmingham School of Jewellery, the British Sundial Society and the Architects’ Journal.

Tool/Toy Project has been supported by Jerwood New Work Fund 2022 and 1:1FUND.

Tool/Toy Project, Trap the Sunlight 2019. Photography by Manon Houston
Tool/Toy Project 500 second celebration. Image by Manon Houston.
Tool/Toy Project Listen to the. Image by Manon Houston.