Nostalgia is a powerful emotion.
Yesterday afternoon I had a chance to wallow in it while we visited the Toys of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s exhibit at the MOHAI in Seattle.
It was our first trip to the MOHAI. There were so many awesome things to see! We’ll have to go back again to spend more time with the permanent exhibits. The space itself and the lakeside park is beautiful too.
But let’s skip right to the toys and the design of the exhibit, okay? Each of the the three decades had its own LIVING ROOM outfitted with the home fashions of the time AND television sets that played toy commercials from the corresponding decade. OMG, people. It was so cool. I spent most of my time in the ’70s section with toys that I l loved as a child, and they brought up all kinds of memories and emotions.
Like nostalgia itself, some of the toys tugged at my heart harder than others. Especially the ones that my younger brother and I played with together. He passed away in 1994 at the age of 21. When I saw the Evel Knievel action figure and the Star Wars collection it was like being back in my childhood bedroom minus the innocence of not knowing what was to come.
I almost lost it when I saw Dressy Bessy, one of my favorite childhood dolls. She was out in the open for people to play with. I sat on the sofa in the 70s living room, dressing and undressing her just as I did when I was three or four years old.
Visiting this exhibition was such a heartwarming, magical, time traveling experience. Even taking the emotions out of it, which you really shouldn’t, as a graphic designer I appreciated the opportunity to take a closer look at the trends in colors and styles from each decade. My current pink and orange color palette crush was a big part of the 60s!
Being in the room with so many toys that the mere sight of allowed me to access a whole set of childhood memories reminded me how powerful objects can be. Not that I advocate keeping all of them – as I mentioned in a recent #melaniebiehle_morningcoffee Instagram post, I’m trying to get RID of stuff. But having one or two special keepsakes…or maybe three or four…shh…don’t tell Marie Kondo…are more than okay in my book.
You’ve got just under a month left to visit the MOHAI and see Toys of the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. It runs through September 25th! You definitely don’t want to miss it.
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