Tinder Dog: Your new best friend
Spring Copenhagen’s newest product, the piggy bank Tinder Dog, is inspired by H. C. Andersen’s “Tinderbox”. It’s the perfect christening og birthday gift, following you the rest of your life – as a piggy bank in childhood or as an interior on the windowsill when you grow older.
Jesper Wolff clearly remembers his piggy banks on the windowsill in his room.
He remembers that he quickly learned how to get the coins out of the piggy bank, because his parent kept the keys. He remembers how the coins looked and he remembers the competitions with his older brother on who could make the highest tower of coins. Now all these memories have been transformed into a whole new Spring Copenhagen-product: the piggy bank Tinder Dog.
Inspired by the fairy-tale “Tinderbox”
Jesper Wolff wanted to use H.C. Andersen’s figures and fairy-tale universes in his design for a long time. So, it was an obvious choice to use “Tinderbox” as a starting point, when he designing the first prototypes for Tinder Dog.
“I remembered from “Tinderbox” that the dogs that sit on the chests, guarding the money, have a very characteristic look. I clearly remember the drawings. At the same time, the dog is a man’s best friend. I have a dog myself, so for me it was an obvious choice to have my best friend guarding my money,” he tells.
McDuck-battle about piling up coins.
In Jesper Wolff’s room there were two piggy banks. One of them was red, looked like a Hoptimist and was very simple. He also has – like so many others – Danske Bank’s classic Pondus with the red scarf.
Jesper Wolff quickly discovered the trick of wriggling the coins out of his piggy bank with a knife, he tells. So, savings were small. But he remembers how the trick with the knife sometimes wasn’t about getting coins out, so he could buy candy.
“My brother also has a piggy bank just like my Hoptimist. So even though we weren’t very good at putting money by, I remember us making a contest: We both emptied our piggy banks out on the floor and piled up the coins in true McDuck-style.”
A piggy bank for life
Tinder Dog is meant to be a birthday or christening gift that follows the owner through life.
Because when you produce stuff in wood and in decent quality then the wood patinates over time. This way the product gets its own identity, tells Jesper Wolff.
“Tinder Dog is something you bring with you your entire life. In the beginning you will use it as a piggy bank. You will put your greasy fingers on it, and it will have its own marks. When you get older, it might be a part of your home as a decoration – or you will perhaps pass it on to your grandchildren.”
Design that brings smiles and joy
It’s important for Jesper Wolff that his design creates life, energy and preferably smiles where ever they are. Design must have an expression that makes you smile when you look at it.
Same philosophy applies to his salt- and pepper set, the Pepper Owl and the Snow Owl.
“I don’t need to grind salt in order to find it cool owning a salt grinder. It’s cool if design can start a conversation or evoke a feeling – and to put that into a piggy bank is also cool. That’s my approach to design. My designs must be an experience – not only when you use it, but also when you look at it.”
