Story of a 50 year old boy

From clay toys to cartoons to innovative gadgets

Have you ever wondered if you're hindering your children’s creativity when all you intended to do was just the opposite? Meet Irfan Sayar and his legendary cartoon character Porof Zihni Sinir. Ifran started making clay toys when there was nothing else to do. Then he found the power of humor and started making cartoons. Today he is producing all kinds of innovative gadgets originating from these cartoons. He's also providing an enabling environment for children to put their creativity to use.

When I was young, children didn’t have many toys in Turkey. Those lucky enough to have some relatives living abroad would have the best toys. However, I remember spending hours with my friends in a room with either no or very few toys, but we would still have a great time. We would make horses out of brooms, helmets out of salad bowls, houses & cars out of boxes and wires. We would literally make our own toys. Now, I realize how this naturally nurtured our creativity. We would SCAMPER all the time. For those of you unfamiliar with the term SCAMPER, it’s a question checklist that jumpstarts idea generation by asking what you can Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Magnify or Minimize, Put to other uses, Eliminate and Reverse or Rearrange whatever you have at hand.

Today we want to introduce you to Irfan Sayar, father of a million crazy creations/innovations. Being the son of a farmer, he says he had no toys when he went to the village so he started making his own out of clay. This became such a passion for him that afterwards he never took the same joy from manufactured toys and always made his own. He started his career as a cartoonist and then started turning his cartoons into real gadgets. He has a famous cartoon character called Porof Zihni Sinir who is a very practical, curious and obviously humorous imaginary professor. Today when somebody really comes out with a very novel and weird idea in Turkey, it’s called a Zihni Sinir project.

I am a big fan of Porof Zihni Sinir who in reality is Irfan Sayar, his creator. First of all he's a great observer and is always attempting to find creative solutions to everyday problems. These problems are mostly a part of Turkish daily life. We accept them as a part of our DNA. We complain about them all the time, but never think about how we can solve them. They are like the organizational difficulties that we’re all used to just living with. Porof Zihni Sinir points out to these cultural dysfunctionalties and then offers crazy solutions. Turkey is a very proud nation and we don’t like people making fun of us, but when one of us does it in such a clever and funny way, we make that person our hero.

Here is a quick look at some of Porof Zihni Sinir Projects:

When you’re in Turkey and trying to cross the road, beware of cars. Instead of slowing down and letting you cross, they may speed up. Here is a solution to this problem by Porof Zihni Sinir:

A crosswalk with brakes

1. The pedestrians pull the handbrake.
2. The rolling band starts working so the cars can't move forward.

 

Safe highway crossing

Here's another one. I don’t think this one needs any explanation, but you may wonder why anybody would attempt to cross the highway. In Turkey, some of us apparently do.

Improved Minibus

Below is a picture of an improved minibus which is one of the most common public transportation vehicles in Turkey.

• Sunroof for people who do not have a seat
• Hydraulic door to get a few more passengers into the minibus
• Extension tire to trip other minibuses who try to overtake
• Extra horse leg brakes to enable a quick stop to pick a passenger when riding at the speed of light
• And of course a door at the bottom to let the passengers out when the speeding minibus tips over!

These are really creative, but are they innovative? Not unless, they produce some value. But here's an indisputable packaging innovation by Porof Zihni Sinir.

Double sided beer bottle

This is the story of a 50 year old boy who used his creativity to make clay toys for himself when there was nothing else to play with. His observational skill was his greatest asset. He turned his observations into cartoons and then into innovative gadgets. Beyond a million things he does, today Irfan runs mini-robotics workshops for children aged 6-11. These workshops can best be described as saving children from today’s passive psychology, which is the result of the latest technology, by introducing them to the basics of electronics and helping them create their own toys.

All of us want to raise our children to be creative. We can do that by providing them the space to do so. If we always teach them (this is how this works) or give them the latest technology toys, what's there for them to observe, explore and create? Let’s leave our children to get bored sometimes. Boredom can nurture their curiosity and help them find new ways to amuse themselves. And if, while they are bored, we can provide them the “creative clay” that allows them to experiment and create, we’re likely to see a wonderful product emerge: The creative human.

Comments

[Ideagator]

I love these ideas...I want the double-sided beer bottle now!! On second thought, make it two please.