Metro Transit Play Mats
Romson Bustillo and Lara Kaminoff
Artist-designed play mats invite young children to imagine their own journeys on public transit.
In collaboration with King County Metro's Strategic Communications team, 4Culture commissioned artists Lara Kaminoff and Romson Bustillo to design four-by-six-foot play mats for young children.
Together, the designs draw on the region's roadways, bus and bike lanes, light rail, water taxis, and local landmarks, but each artist offers a different interpretation of the places and pathways that connect us. Rather than prescribing a route, the mats invite children to invent their own journeys.
Bustillo brings together recognizable forms and abstract patterns in a layered landscape inspired by the Pacific Northwest.
“The patterns reference stylized PNW flora, fauna, landmarks, and human beings to encourage discovery. I want kids to be able to clearly identify certain things within the landscape while at the same time leaving plenty of room for imaginative play.”
Kaminoff imagines a magical world of insects navigating an intricate network of streets, familiar places, gathering spaces, and transit connections.
“When kids play on the mat, I hope they feel connected and ready to blaze their own trails through this little bug world and beyond.”
The project complements the work of Metro's Youth Mobility Team, which offers free, interactive transit education for students from second grade through high school. The play mats extend that introduction to an even younger audience.
Metro produced 500 of each design for free distribution to preschools, libraries, recreation centers, and other youth-serving organizations across King County.
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Bustillo is a Seattle-based interdisciplinary artist born in the Philippines. Working in printmaking, mixed media, and site-specific projects, he draws on cultural memory, migration, and place. His practice has included extended periods of work in the Philippines, Southeast Asia, Central America, Spain, and Mexico, and his public art projects include commissions for Sound Transit and the Seattle Convention Center.
Kaminoff is a Seattle-based illustrator, cartoonist, and art educator whose work combines humor, storytelling, and richly imagined worlds. Her first graphic novel, How to Pick a Fight (Nobrow, 2021), was recognized by the Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize and received a British Book Design and Production Award. Kaminoff’s illustration also spans editorial, educational, and community-focused projects, including work for The Stranger, Real Change, and Seattle Public Utilities.