Loopy idea of 'sticky tape for Lego' proves a money-spinner

What would you do if you wanted to raise $1-million in two days? Your answers probably wouldn't include "develop a Lego-compatible sticky tape which will become the world's next big toy sensation".

But that's what three Cape Town brainboxes have done, and by yesterday their crowdfunding campaign, which had an initial target of $8,000, had raised $1,169339 - just short of R15-million.

Nimuno Loops are a game-changer, literally. The flexible sticky tape with bumps to which toy bricks can be attached can make loops, go around corners, stick to ceilings and be cut to size. Imagine constructions made of toy bricks on the walls, above you, on your fridge and around the edge of your bath.

Industrial designers Anine Kirsten and Max Basler and the CEO of the Chrome Cherry Design Studio, where the pair work, Jaco Kruger, have attracted more than 31,000 donors to their Indiegogo campaign.

Toys R Us in North America, the biggest seller of Lego, wants Nimuno Loops - compatible with Lego, Mega Bloks and Kre-O - in its 570 stores, and sole rights for 60 days.

Images and articles about Nimuno went viral online this week (#nimuno) and the product is making headlines in the US with Kirsten being invited onto TV talk shows.

She first drew attention to the tape by handing out samples at the American International Toy Fair in New York last month.

She told the Sunday Times from New York on Friday: "Last night, when we hit a million dollars, not rands, I cracked open a beer and started dancing in the kitchen on my own."

Basler said that on Tuesday he was at home with housemates who said: "Look at what is going on here: it is jumping by $1,000 a minute."

Kruger said: "We're blown away by the response. My daughter was at Stellenbosch University ... and someone said to her: 'Have you heard that someone has invented Lego tape that sticks on the wall?' She said: 'That's my dad.'"

Funding took about a week to gain momentum, said Kirsten. " At the beginning the pledges were lagging ... then, after bloggers picked it up, it started to snowball and went wild."

Until now, Kruger's flagship product has been the award-winning Ybike for toddlers.

Kirsten, who dedicated the past six months to developing Nimuno, said the concept originated with a friend, who would benefit. The Chrome Cherry team picked it up at a brainstorming session and turned it into reality.

Basler said: "At the end of last year, Anine and I were casting prototypes every morning in my garage in Observatory to test the hardness of materials and what would be ideal.

"She's been the driving force behind it for six months and I've been there every step of the way. We've been feeding back and forth off Jaco at meetings every week."

Kirsten and Basler became friends at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

Kirsten said: "I studied industrial design so I could become a toy designer. That is what I wanted to be when I grew up. One day I got a Facebook message from Max, who was working for a toy design company, [asking if I would] be interested in another job. I met him and Jaco the next day and got the job right there."

The next challenge for the team is how to produce and distribute the product fast enough.