This week, we take a moment to check out Toys4Kids and owner Nancy Chatterbox! Toys4Kids is located in Bay City, and is a great place for some very inventive toys and family RP items among other things! Here is what Nancy had to say as this week's spotlight designer!
1. How did you get started as a store owner?
I guess to answer that question I would have to tell you how I got started as Nancy. I have been in SL for over 4 years now and most who know me properly know that my big avatar is a live performer but not part of family RP. I never understood the child RP at that time. However, as many people do, I went through a very bad time RL which actually led me to create Nancy to escape. On my big avatar, I had spent nearly 3 years creating clothes and furniture purely because I had a thirst for knowlege and a passion for creativity - especially with the PC (qualified IT teacher in RL). Nancy was supposed to be a 'log in now and again escape'. But I soon found my SL and Nancy has become my main avie. It made sense therefore to move my passion for creation from one avatar to another.
2. What do you feel are your favorite products you have made?
I really can't answer this question with one specific toy or piece of furniture. Regularly I IM my uncle, a fellow creator and store owner and I say 'OMG so proud of this!' My favourite items are items that have lots of features. When creating toys I think about the things that excited me as a RL child, what features I would have loved to see in those things and I try to create that. SL has fast become a RL commerce, nearly 8 years of creation in sl has seen every idea come into play just as in RL. It is therefore very dificult to create something new. We can add originality, an original concept to something that has been done but it is extremely rare to be able to come up with something totally new. I therefore try to bring new ideas to the toys or the furniture I make. When I make my furniture I think about the time I love to spend with my family and try to incorporate that into the furniture so people can snuggle with mommy for example, or jump on her bed to wake her up and so on.
3. What would you like your customers to know the most about your store, or what things are you most proud of about your business?
I guess I am proud that I am able to create items suitable for many areas of family RP. I love my toys but I am also loving the bedrooms I am making and the other family RP furniture. I have a thirst for advancement and challenges, beds that do more and more, kitchens full of RP capabilities along with sofas and so on.
4. Where do you hope to take Toys 4 Kids into the future?
Toys4kids has grown vastly and is no longer selling just toys. I have branched out and begun creating a lot of family RP furniture. Dinner tables which have everything you can imagine for a good RP dinner, christmas or party. I already use in world sculpt makers so I can be original as much as possible but I am now learning how to use sculpt software outside of SL so I can bring more of my own items in. The more original I can become with my designs the happier I will be.
Check out Toys4Kids in this week's FLF Kids event, along with many other wonderful designers!
SLURL to Toys4Kids: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bay%20City%20-%20Maddequet/94/239/25
Awesome interview and really cute cool stuff :)
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