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Art Gallery of Ballarat

FAO Schwarz enjoys a history of over one hundred and fifty years as the world’s preeminent toy store Following its acquisition by ThreeSixty Group in 2016, the company has been on a mission to Return to Wonder, harking back to its roots of creating a magical experience for its visitors, especially children

The challenged faced by FAO Schwarz is how to take a legacy, historical brand known for its brick-and-mortar locations and bring it into the digital age FAO engaged us to help them completely reinvent their online presence

We tried everything from the most traditional children’s toy-chest, to 80s-inspired digital, to replicating the famous window displays — but one early insight from the client stood out to us When kids step inside a store, they’re taken to a different world That sense of total fantasy had even inspired the world of cinema ‘Home Alone 2’ [1992], and ‘Big’ [1998] both took inspiration from FAO Schwarz

Our final concept recreated this moment of transformation — weaving a spatial experience with a digital one Visitors entered a 3D world of wonder, playfully navigating a carousel to enter sections of the website

Far from the traditional e-commerce experience, we transported kids young and old through their screen to a totally different world

Daniel Lever, Elliot Schultz, Klara Ahlin, Sophia Kochinos, Bec Ashmore, Cam Tidy Jan-Eric Kloth, David Niggli, Megan Wycoff