Some design objects make you smile before you even understand them. The Split-Rocker (Wood) by Jeff Koons does exactly that, translating one of the artist’s most recognizable sculptures into a pair of collectible objects.

The form is familiar and slightly uncanny. A rocking horse merges with a dinosaur rocker, two childhood icons fused into a single hybrid. Presented here as a pair, each sculptural object reveals only half the creature. Place them together and the full character emerges.

Then there’s the material. These limited editions are carved from tinted beech wood, their surfaces softly matte, the palette hovering between pastel and candy. Natural wood peeks through at the interior, grounding the whimsy with craft. Each piece is individually numbered and engraved, a reminder that this playful sculpture also lives comfortably in the world of collectible design.

As playful design objects go, they’re unusually social. The pair invites staging, conversation, and a little curiosity from across the room.

Which feels especially fitting right now. The original Split-Rocker is a towering “living” sculpture covered in thousands of flowering plants, now installed at LACMA as part of the museum’s expanded outdoor park and public spaces surrounding the David Geffen Galleries. The 37-foot hybrid transforms Koons’s playful toy mashup into monumental landscape art, while this smaller edition keeps the same sense of joy, simply scaled for a shelf, reception desk, or any interior that benefits from a touch of levity.

For more examples of design that happily blurs art and object, see When Architecture Plays Along. 

_{Images Courtesy of www.avantarte.com}