Princess Pea India

Above: Every Day is a protest. Below: Body Shaming, These are examples of the work of anonymous artist Princes Pea is from Gurugram, India whose tiny sculptures/ toys are wonderfully political and challenging and have steamed from Princess Peas big head performance art work. 

This body of work by Princess Peais to inspire and empower, and also to revive and sustain the dying Indian craft of wood-turning, here made using local resources in the village of Etikoppaka. 

Traditional woodcraft in this area is said to have been practiced since 300 BC, with the creation of decorative ornaments and images of deities. ‘The Pea Family’ of toys is helping to sustain this tradition.

 

Our World of Wood I

 

'The droplet family' by Our world of Wood, 'O_wow' who are based in the New Forest, Hampshire.

o_wow's products are hand-made to order using responsibly-sourced, sustainable materials.

They work closely with local businesses and use their premium quality, solid wood worktop off-cuts to create children's toys, artwork and bespoke furniture, preventing waste and reducing the impact of discarded materials on the environment.

Abigail Brown

Abigail Brown's simple and wonderful carved animal toys. Abigail usually works with textiles but with these pieces exhibited at Doux Dimanche, she has used driftwood.

David Tisserand

Minions designed by French product designer David Tisserand.

Watermelon Cat

'Watermelon Cat' is a dutch company run by Susana Aparicio Lardiés & Juan Alonso architect designers who inspired by the arrival of their daughter started to make fantastic innovative toys.
This design is called 'rush hour'.

De Van Hut

De Van Hut makes individual incredible play spaces and toys for children from waste wood that is reclaimed from companies that use FSC approved wood each creation is a unique copy, with unique features.
De Van Hut also gives a second life to existing pieces of furniture by altering and adding recuperative material until they become toys. In this way old loved objects get an unexpected new future. They are innovative, great fun and bring massive JOY.
This carousel piece was installed at the TAZ Theatre Aan Zee, you can see a video of it in action here.

Masaaki Hiroi

Japan's Spinning Top Master from Matthew Allard ACS on Vimeo.

Here is some true beauty a man who has dedicated his life to inventing and crafting toys and in particular spinning tops. Onkomaya Hiroi is full of wisdom and his creations are a joy to behold.

Maria Zeta

Maria Zeta is an Argentinian creative who illustrates and makes simple wooden toys, often wooden forms are incorporated as part of her illustration practice.

Archabits

Bulgarian Architects and product designers Archabits have been developing wooden toys. This range is the 'Musicians of Bremen' the natural timbers are not painted or varnished and have embedded magnets to allow them to be fixed together in a variety of imaginative arrangements.

TobeUs 100%

TobeUs initiated a project that started off as friends and expanded to 100 Masters of Italian design, all taking the basic components of a TobeUs car to create their own design. 100% TobeUs is being exhibited at the Toronto Design Festival this January.

"100% TobeUs, an exhibition about the value of the mindful use of objects and the diea the toys are important, so important that is better when they contain ideals and hopes for a better future, in which consumption will become thought and choice. One hundred international designers, between the most important in the world, accepted to play with TobeUs, creating a unique collection of one hundred wooden cars, designed with fantasy, simpleness and the wish to give a message of sustainability and joyfulness to adults and children." Matteo Ragni

TobeUs I

TobeUs is the design venture of Matteo Ragni a father who grew tired of seeing his children abandon or break new toys within a few hours of having them. His vision became clear a vision of "toy cars made of wood; strong and sweet-scented, beautiful and clever because they are planned by skillful and passionate designers."

Manifesto:
To be able to give a toy to a child that will age well, and last for years.

To put something in a child’s hands that is made completely from scented wood.

To give adults and children time to use an object, to mark it, become fond of it, repair it, lose it and find it again.

To speak to children about conscious consumerism: “Look, this will age. You can throw it away without worrying about pollution, it can be reused. It is made in Italy by adults who are paid a fair wage. If you are cold, you can burn it.

”For the pleasure of trying to find awareness in design: the block of wood is always the same, but two lines turn it into a distinctly different car.

Audrone Drungilaite

I love this design of 'Forest' by Audrone Drungilate with the tree forms plugging into the table made of Lithuanian Ash, because it relates to the earth and the great unseen trees (of roots) under the ground. But also because it is beautifully designed and it lends itself to so many other interpretations and possibilities for vases or lamps for instance. (thank you)

Luís Leite and Ana Ferreira I

 Luís Leite and Ana Ferreira are Portuguese architects, who inspired by the birth of a nephew in 2006 wanted to design some toys. Since this time they have honed and perfected their design and this year opened their online shop Bleebla. The animals are made from Sycamore and their housing from cork. Louis and Ana spent a lot of time researching their materials, both in aesthetic terms as they wanted a good colour contrast between the housing and the creatures.

"Our architectural training strongly determines all design phases and the final result. The process of designing an animal starts by sketching a lot – and we mean a lot :) – in order to reach a stylized silhouette of each animal. After that we do several prototypes to fine-tune details like tails, paws, snouts, until we’re pleased (yes, we are a bit obsessed)." Ana and Luis

They also wanted to ensure the materials they choose had a low environmental impact. Cork is a wonderful choice of material for toys as it is a warm soft material and their has been a decline in its production since wine producers have moved to using screw caps.

Rock and Pebble

Birch ply interlocking play house forms for children manufactured in the UK by Rock and Pebble. Beautiful simple design that allows for imaginative play that are sustainable non-toxic and natural. (thank you)

Ko Verzuu

Ko Verzuu (1901-1971) was a Dutch toy designer inspired by De Stijl and Rietveld, he was also the father of eleven children. He and his team at ADO speelgood made fantastic colorful wooden toys and children's furniture in the 1930′s-1950′s. 

Ko Verzuu’s was very different to most toy companies as most of the workers were patients in the TB sanatorium, Berg and Bosch and Ko was the head of men's work therapy.

The workshop was opened as part of a program designed to help patients transition from the sanatorium back into society and these beautiful handmade toys and furnishings made from painted plywood were the result. The designs are so simple and colours so pleasing it is easy to imagine making full sized furniture in similar designs being a great success to.