Although Polly Pocket may be top of mind as we fantasize about the highly anticipated film, interior designers have recently been incorporating her aesthetics into their own projects too. AD PRO Directory designer Sasha Bikoff referenced the ’90s color scheme of her own childhood when she was designing the bedroom for the 2023 Kips Bay Decorator Show House. The vibrant oranges, shades of purple, and turquoise also nod to her nostalgic admiration for Polly Pocket.
“I grew up in a New York City apartment, I always wanted the Barbie Dreamhouse or the Malibu House, but rooms are smaller here,” she says. “Polly Pocket was perfect for a city kid like me because you could bring it everywhere.” The influence of the slick, candy-colored hard plastic cases of the beloved compacts can be seen throughout the space, especially in the iridescent, shell-shaped headboard and bedframe. Miniatures may be physically small, but their impact is enormous. AG Minis were another popular entry point for many young millennials into a world of interior imagination that was tangible and helped us visualize the possibilities of how we can craft our future homes. The mini market continues to boom as young people look to Instagram and TikTok for small-scale versions of dream living spaces.
Polly’s shiny plastic world was also on Studio Ringo’s mood board while they planned the design for Funny Face Bakery in 2022. Decked out in a monochromatic shade of purple called “grape ice,” as Madelynn Ringo describes it, the storefront was designed to reflect the playfulness of the illustrated cookies in the window by carving out a “micro-environment that is also nostalgic to a certain generation of people.” As the creative director and interior designer further explains, “I think the way that we translated our references was through this illustrative effect of the way that Funny Face creates their cookies with icing in bold outlined shapes; we wanted to use those lines in the ornamental details of the store. You’ll see details like hearts and the triple outline of the arch mirror in the store that reflect our conceptual narrative as we worked alongside them to generate this feeling or this character that becomes a physical representation of that brand ethos, and the way that we’re doing that is by pulling cultural references.”
If I could sum up the world of Polly Pocket into one word it would be sweet. In my search for interior eye candy, I was delighted to dig further into the array of offerings by the Copenhagen-based artist Helle Mardahl. “Objects like the Stand or Bonbonniere are inspired by the joy and indulgence of childhood memories, much like being in a candy store,” she says. Not only are her artfully functional objects a treat for the eye, but their blown sugar resemblances are named after cherished flavors from adolescence: “The color and flavor combinations in my designs recall childhood memories.”
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“Choosing colors feels like the same playful, sensory experience—like selecting the perfect combination of ice cream flavors,” Mardahl continues. “It’s not just about picking your favorite, but about finding the right balance, like pairing vanilla with caramel or blueberry with banana. Just as everyone has their own unique taste, I love that people can mix and match colors in our physical store to create their own personal combination, much like in a candy store.”