Maker Monday: The Wooden Kind

If you’re looking for high-quality children’s toys to give to the littles on your list this holiday season, look no further. The Wooden Kind has exactly what you’re looking for! They create simple and modern-looking toys that can double as beautiful home decor. Want to learn more? We spoke to Katie & Steve to find out more about the Wooden Kind!

You can read all of our other Maker Monday posts here.

How did you get into woodworking and what influenced you to start the Wooden Kind?

We started woodworking in a spare bedroom in our tiny basement apartment. We combined both of our passions, Steve’s of woodworking and mine of drawing, and started creating wooden toys out of the cards I would draw for Steve. The first card I ever made Steve had a Bear on it – the same Bear that is now our business logo – and that was our inspiration for creating our Classic Wooden Bear Rattle.  At this time in our lives, many of our family and friends were having children so the need for baby gifts was constant. It was difficult to find high quality, plastic-free (as we all know the negative impact plastic has on our environment) gifts so, we created our own. It didn’t take long to notice the positive responses of our gifts and we soon turned it into our small business – The Wooden Kind. Steve had always been a woodworker, but I, on the other hand, had not. Steve taught me most, if not all, of what I know when it comes to working with different woods, using different saws, routers, sanding tools, etc. Our partnership is quite perfect if you ask me. We think of a toy concept, I draw it up, we both cut it out, Steve assembles it and I take care of the business side of things. The Wooden Kind is now a passion we both share together and we have no plans on slowing down. 

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What is your creative process like? How do you come up with new ideas?

We love to keep our designs simple and modern-looking. The purpose of this is to truly spark the imagination of the child who plays with them and also so they can be placed on a shelf as beautiful decor in the house. We first have an idea of a “toy” or “toy set” we want to create, we sketch out the design in its simplest shape it can be while keeping its key physical characteristics and then we cut! We play around with different sizes of the items and usually gift our first make of something and wait for reactions of the children/feedback from the parents. It’s important to us that we get feedback from the people who will use them the most.

New ideas are usually inspired by real life. For example, our first wood set of Animal toys was inspired by our African Safari in Tanzania.  Our Northern Ontario Animal set was inspired after we moved to Sudbury and I had seen my first moose followed up with a bear in the neighborhood a few weeks after. Our popular Wooden Camera was inspired by our love for photography and we want to share that love with our young nieces and nephews. Our inspiration for new ideas is constantly changing and evolving based on family, friends and even from our costumers suggesting new ideas – we are excited to see what the future brings!  

Do you take custom orders? Have you had any favourites?

Yes – we take custom orders. Not only can you order any of our items from us at any time through Instagram and Facebook, but all of our Wooden Rattles have the option to come personalized with a wood burnt name on the back and our Camera can be painted any color you’d like! We recently had a custom order come through to create two wooden rattles that have the ability to join together to signify “twins”. We are still working on this but we are excited about the challenge.

Do you have any tips for other makers who may be looking to start selling their own creations?

Put your heart into whatever you are creating and it will be loved. It is obvious when something is created with love, and it is even more obvious when something is created with half-hearted hands. 

Will you be at any upcoming markets?

Unfortunately, our Markets are complete for the year. We were lucky enough to be in the Makers North Hand-made Holiday Market this year and we hope to be in more of their markets in the future. We also plan on re-stocking some of our items in One Sky gallery – so watch for us there! 

Be sure to follow The Wooden Kind on Instagram and Facebook!