Design Map · Eindhoven
FlatMates
Graduation project by Maria Prochorec at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
Reading is a static activity, yet it moves our imagination. While reading, we ‘explore’ new places, meet new characters, animals and creatures. And probably everyone, especially children, would like to truly experience it, to physically transport themselves into these fictional worlds. Maria Prochorec’s ‘FlatMates’ is a new play-and-reading experience. Part of the written, ‘flat’ world comes into the real world while reading. Rather than just telling a story, the book is also a collection: a catalogue of imaginative animals called FlatMates, flat felt creatures living inside the book. As the story unfolds, the felt pages, or rather, creatures can be removed from the book and folded into three-dimensional characters that a child can interact and play with. When the playtime ends, the creatures return to the book, ready for the next adventure to begin.