Stop Playing With Yourself (SPWY) was inspired by one of the designers’ training as a volunteer lifeguard at Tamarama Beach, a beautiful stretch of sand in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. The communitarian values of volunteer organisation Surf Life Saving Australia inspired Michael Alvisse to develop SPWY as a metaphorical alternative to unfettered individualism and virtual experience. SPWY is a playful design that is enlivened by communal effort. “It’s wonderful to see how people’s faces light up as they realise they have to work together as a team to assemble the puzzle” says Alvisse. “Even the coolest stylemeisters lighten up as they become engrossed with the complex challenge of this tactile and social game”.
Alvisse and his team say SPWY is a reconceived Chinese puzzle that doubles as a create-your-own sculptural landscape. “You could say it’s like Twister, but much more fun”, says Alvisse.
