La Fabrique des caractères

As co-directors of Atelier Baudelaire, mothers and feminists, and amid the current debates on equality, every day we find ourselves interrogating how gender is determined and the origin of the mechanisms that produce the glass ceiling. 

Our own experiences in the field of design and their intersection with learning to be parents led us to question the role of games and toys in the construction of gendered identities. Although most parents consider play natural and educational, nevertheless the market availability of games shapes gendered conceptual categories. Numerous sociological studies highlight the fact that mass-market toys are powerful factors in the stigmatization of children’s activities and interest not deemed appropriate for their gender. On the basis of a critical study of toy catalogues, Serge Chaumier, a professor and researcher at the University of Artois, formulated the following hypothesis: “Toys are changing, becoming more hi-tech and more closely connected to consumer society and new ways of communication, but the boundary between the sexes remains impermeable.” 

The narratives generated through play and toys do not seem to be significantly evolving toward more porosity in terms of activities and skills considered male or female. Today, statistics confirm the persistence of this gendered split in adulthood. People’s choices of personal interests and professions, and, by extension, the power relations in the social hierarchy, are still largely conditioned by gender. Does the way brands and retailers address the children’s market bear any responsibility for this determinist dichotomy? 

In an attempt to explore possible answers to this hypothesis supported by abundant scientific literature, in 2018 we at the Atelier Baudelaire launched a series of research workshops to examine shapes, logos, typography and colour in a large sample of toys available at major retail outlets. Starting in 2020, we have organized workshops with students from various higher learning institutions with the aim of raising awareness among future generations of designers about the importance of suggested educational tools. La fabrique des caractères encourages an interrogation of the meaning of the signs, colours, materials and words used by the children’s toy and fashion industries to market their products, and the gender stereotypes they entail. Using data sets obtained through different protocols (Google searches, surveys of supermarket departments, analysis of toy catalogues, interviews, etc), our research centred on three main complementary issues: the colour of toys, the graphic identity associated with different brands (colours, logos, typography, emblematic animals) and their semantic tools (names, slogans, texts printed on clothing, etc.). This initial field experiment allowed us to accumulate, classify and analyse raw data so as to uncover what we consider the underlying archetypes that the Atelier Baudelaire visually reinterpreted in the classroom space. 

La fabrique des caractères explores data-sculptural objects as a tool for producing a knowledge and reading of the contemporary world, and, additionally, as an innovative alternative medium that renders such issues accessible. The exhibition also challenges the idea that scientific data is objective while its graphic transcription is subjective.