Thames & Kosmos’ Steve O’Connor on new launches, collabs – and the future of Gecko Run

Talk us through your approach to designing STEM products.
We envision a world in which everyone loves to learn, and we want to provide the toys and tools that enable and encourage that love of learning. Quality is an important consideration when we’re designing – but most of all, we want our products to be fun to engage with, providing that stealth learning for which STEM has become known.

Your new Telescope looks like an impressive piece of kit. How do you balance crafting an item that does what it needs to do, while also being ‘entry level’ in terms of usage and price?
We need to ensure our products really teach something in a deliberate way. With a telescope, that means creating the sandbox for a child’s open-ended learning experience. We felt it must reach certain technological requirements to engage and hold interest. For example, the 100x magnification, lets you view the surface of the moon! However, we always keep the audience in mind. We don’t dive too far into the technology available, as this may overwhelm or alienate. Children don’t need the James Hubble telescope to start stargazing!

How important is it that these products have an aesthetic appeal too?
Our essential STEM range does have a deliberately sleek look. We’re aiming for a space-inspired style and believe that this approach really helps draw the attention of the ever-growing kidult audience.

Elsewhere, the Gecko Run Deluxe Set looks like a thing of beauty!
The Deluxe starter set has everything you need to zip, zag, bounce and skip into an awesome engineering experience. It has the tracks, bridges, levers and marbles that you’d find in our starter kit to make countless amazing marble runs. The Deluxe Set gets even better by including extra components and two of our favourite expansions.

I’m all ears!
The Loop expansion is an amazing stunt to add to any run. It really encourages experimentation with velocity to ensure the marble perfectly loops the loop. Then there’s the Trampoline expansion pack. This has the marble hopping from one section of track to the other and explores the physics of projectile motion and trajectory.

Love it. What’s next for the brand?
We have four expansions coming in 2025. The possibilities to add to Gecko Run appear limitless!

You also have a Harry Potter range on the way this year. What does that include?
Harry Potter is loved by children and adults worldwide! We’re introducing two products in 2025; both have a crafting aspect… Either making three of the magic wands from the series or creating letters and Hogwarts seals – there’s even instructions on how to make your very own howler!

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