Video: The ultimate helmet hair? Playmobil-inspired lid goes viral

An idea for a cycle helmet based on the hair of a Playmobil plastic figure, devised by a partner in the Stockholm office of one of the world’s biggest ad agencies as part of an MBA project, has set the internet abuzz this week with calls for it to be put into production.

Simon Higby, who undertook the project as part of an MBA thesis at the Berlin School of Creative Leadership, and a colleague from the firm’s Copenhagen office, Clara Prior Knock, contacted Danish 3D printing specialist MOEF to turn the idea into reality.

The result is the prototype helmet shown in the video above, aimed at encouraging children to wear a helmet while riding their bikes by using a design familiar to them from the toys they play with.

But comments on Reddit, where user Silamtao posted a picture of the helmet on Sunday gaining more than 1 million views suggest it also appeals to many adults.

The picture on Reddit was captioned “Lego hair cycle helmet,” although a close look at the video of the prototype being made, shared by MOEF on YouTube last year, shows that rather than the a figure from the Danish company, it was one from German rival Playmobil that was the source of the plastic hairdo.

Higby yesterday challenged the two toy manufacturers to come up with a production model, tweeting a link to coverage of the helmet on Mashable.

He wrote: “Hello @LEGO_Group & @playmobil check out our idea here. Who can be first to do this?!”