About Block Design
Block Design is an independent design studio in Cornwall that has been making bold, joyful, colour-loving gifts, games and homeware since 2000. It's a certified B Corp, and its mission is wonderfully simple: bring a little more joy, colour and distinctive design into everyday life, with things that are made to last.
Its Idle Hands collection takes classic games you know and love and gives them a dreamy colour wheel makeover. There's the Gradient Tower, a wooden tumbling tower in warm pinks, corals and reds; Gradient Dominoes painted in every shade of the rainbow, for a proper game or an epic domino rally; and Gradient Solitaire, with 33 wooden pieces picked straight from the colour wheel. Four In A Row – Rainbow swaps flat counters for sculptural cubes vs spheres and is shortlisted for the 2026 Gift of the Year in Games & Puzzles, while Paint and Pose, a paint-your-own wooden artist's mannequin with 12 colours and 2 brushes, was nominated for the 2026 Gift of the Year too.
Then there's Tinned Goods, Block Design's playful restyle of the classic British baked beans tin. Each forever-reusable tin is packed with something useful: a Drawing Pad & Crayons set for little artists on the go, a 52-card deck of Travel Playing Cards, a Desk Kit with a mini stapler, scissors, hole punch and more, a Make Up Brushes & Sponge set, and a Shower Cap & Eye Mask set for sleepovers and weekends away.
Why we love Block Design
- It's colour you can play with. Watching the gradients shuffle and mix as a tower grows or a solitaire board empties is half the fun. It's colour theory you can hold in your hands.
- It's made for play and display. These games look so good they live on the coffee table, not in the cupboard, which means someone always fancies "just one more game".
- It's screen-free family time. No batteries, no complicated rules, just everyone round the table from little ones learning to take turns to grown-ups with very steady hands. Perfect for our family games night picks.
- It's award-recognised. Four In A Row – Rainbow and Paint and Pose were both up for the 2026 Gift of the Year.
- The tins live on. Every Tinned Goods tin has a re-fittable lid, so once the crayons are worn down it becomes a home for hair clips, trinkets and tiny treasures.
- It's a B Corp. Independent, Cornish and committed to doing business that's better for people and planet.
Block Design sits happily alongside the rest of our games & puzzles and craft kits, and with plenty for older children, teens and grown ups too, the little tins make brilliant stocking fillers. You can find out more about the brand at blockdesign.co.uk.
At Binky, we pick brands like Block Design because they make everyday moments brighter, whether that's a family game night or a tidy desk. Life really is better in colour. 💛
