If this infinitely reconfigurable furniture line reminds you of your childhood toys, it’s because it’s by the same company. Building Ikea furniture is like playing with an Erector Set that gives you ...

Introduced in 1913 by A.C. Gilbert, Erector sets allowed children to build working models of everything from bridges to locomotives using metal beams, gears, and motors. Dubbed “the toy that builds ...

9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. Free. Atlanta Marriott Northwest, 200 Interstate North Parkway SE, Atlanta. www.acghs.org. At 60, Calhoun attorney Randy Sauder feels like a kid again when he builds things out ...

There’s a secret to 3+, a new furniture collection by Polish designer Oskar Zieta. It seems counterintuitive, but the strength of the series lies not where the material is–but instead, where it isn’t.

The Eli Whitney Museum will pay tribute to the ingenuity of Yale alumnus and toymaker A.C. Gilbert with two events opening on Friday, Nov. 29: “The Erector Set at 100” and “Mr. Gilbert’s Railroad.” ...

What happens when you combine the ease and convenience of flat-pack, ready-to-assemble furniture with the fun and whimsy of the Legos you loved as a child? Well, now we know. For decades, the French ...

If we were to talk to engineers about the childhood toys which most inspired them, it’s likely that the older among them would mention either Meccano or Erector Set. These similar construction toys ...

THE MAN WHO CHANGED HOW BOYS AND TOYS WERE MADE By Bruce Watson Viking. 216 pp. $24.95 The title of Bruce Watson's strange little biography of Alfred C. Gilbert may seem hyperbolic, but it is entirely ...

If you buy something using links in our stories, we may earn a commission. Learn more. Great minds think alike, I was just working on my Erector Set article when I saw Jeremiah McNichols' post on the ...

Christmas of 1918 was just months away, and the United States — immersed in the war effort — was considering calling off Santa. Perhaps parents should invest in Liberty bonds rather than in toys, the ...