Art Toys for Obscure Sports: Curling and Hurling

Fabrice Le Nezet is a London-based designer and sculptor with a clear passion for obscure sports. By rendering atypical athletes in an abstract, urban style, his work recalls the late aesthetic of late 90s Hong Kong designer toys. Never before have the broom-wielding players of curling, an actual Olympic sport, looked quite so cool.

Today, Le Nezet reveals Hurling Players, the next art toys in his ongoing project: Apparently, hurling is an Irish Sport known for being the fastest game on grass and also for being one of the most violent ones. Le Nezet writes:

With this new project, I’m continuing my aesthetic research towards a style that combines sculpture, architecture and toy design with a strong urban vibe. I designed asymmetrical shapes, valuing expressive and elegant silhouettes over tiny little details. This time, I chose raw materials such as concrete, metal and rubber to emphasize the violent nature of those characters. Despite their rough attitudes, I wanted to keep a sense of fun that goes along with the toy spirit.

Concrete and metal for the violent Hurling Players is a clever choice that matches subject matter with materials. Le Nezet modeled the Curling Players for 3D prototyping, and then cast the figures in resin (a process which he refers to as “dirty…don’t do it in your bathroom!”)

I think these are fantastic. Click through for more photos and work-in-progress images.