Nola Goto’s innovative sensory felt toys explore space travel for a young girl in Zimbabwe
During a trip to the United States in 2022, Nola Goto visited a kid’s museum with her four-year-old daughter in tow. Moments later, her eye was drawn to an interesting set of “pretend food” toys with a dynamic texture, and she had an epiphany.
“I kept thinking, what can I do when I get back home that will be fun and exciting, [something] that I can do with my hands because I love sewing. I studied fashion design… I thought this is something I can make at home.” Nola pondered
Hailing from a family of seamstresses, a sewing project was not too far-fetched, this specific project however was uncharted territory for her.
“I wasn’t sure because the [toy] food was made of some type of PVC or plastic material and I thought, ‘what material can I get back home?’ I went on Pinterest and I saw felt [material].”
Nola Goto, founder of SuSo Crafts
Felt material is used to create soft, highly textural objects with sensory elements. This was perfect for bringing Nola’s vision to life. Upon returning home to Zimbabwe, she found some felt material in a local stationery shop, and with a $5 budget, she embarked on her dream to produce felt toys for children under the brand SuSo Crafts. Her first set of toys consisted of an egg and bacon combo which she nervously posted online to rave reviews.
The first felt toy Nola created
While Nola slowly perfected her craft and built her brand, a friend alerted her of The Next Move Mobile Residency by AfriDigital and British Council, for young emerging designers.
“My friend suggested that I do it and initially, I hesitated because I thought it had to do with fashion, and I told her ‘I’m more into crafts,’ and she eventually convinced me to do it.”
Next, Nola had to find a concept to pursue during her residency, and she turned to her father who encouraged her to look towards a rather interesting development at home for inspiration.
“We had our first satellite launch in Zimbabwe…I looked through a few children’s books on space travel, and there was a story about a girl who was dreaming of being an astronaut and I tailored it to Zimbabwe. I made it about our first satellite and a young girl who has dreams of flying into space. We need more kids in Africa wanting to fly into space and this is the time to plant that idea. I’m also doing this for my daughter” she explained
And so, for the last few weeks, Nola has been developing a felt activity book and the main character is a young Zimbabwean girl named Tafara who aspires to travel into space.
“Kids can touch and feel the characters, you can actually move the characters (the mom, the dad, the daughter) you can move certain bits of the spaceship. It’s a book that I have handsewn. I wrote the story, so there are words as well.” Nola said
A patch from Nola’s felt activity book
The residency team from AfriDigital and British Council have helped Nola step out of her comfort zone
“They are interested in what Zimbabwean artists are up to, especially in the design and fashion industries, which are often pushed to the back burner. The residency has been great so far, I’m very happy to be part of the it.” she said
On the 25th of February, Nola and the other residency members will exhibit their final outputs to a live audience, but today, we celebrate her innovative project for making strides towards instilling in young girls the hope that they too, can be pioneers in the fields of Science, Engineering, Technology, Art and Mathematics.
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