With the proliferation of celebrity-inspired dolls and credit card-toting Barbies on store shelves, the world of toys has quickly gone from magical to mass market, but some designers, such as Vancouver's Kate Keeler of Tinywarbler Designs, are returning to the homespun simplicity of traditional hand-stitched animals.
"I've always loved things that have a handmade feel," she says, "knowing that something took time and a lot of care to make, instead of just being pumped out in a factory."
"I love things that look like they took time and care to make, things that weren't pumped out of a factory"
Before starting Tinywarbler Designs, Kate spent years working in office after office, trying to find a good fit. "After awhile, I got tired of looking at four walls in a cubicle," she shrugs. So in 2003, Kate left the corporate grind to explore her creative side and began working at a jewellery design studio.
It wasn't long before her hands were itching to create something of her own. "I started playing around with fabric I had at home ... and the next thing I knew I'd made an elephant!"
The elephant was quickly joined by other adorable creations - having grown up in the country surrounded by forest, Kate has always been inspired by woodland creatures. "I used to draw them all the time, so actually making them was just a natural extension of that." Made with soft wool and colourful, patterned fabric from Japan, Kate's animals possess an heirloom quality that makes them the kind of treasures you give names to, keep with you for years, and pass on to your own children. "Whether they remind you of childhood, or they just make you smile," Kate adds, "I like the idea that these little guys mean something to the people who buy them."
Kate's animals are available from www.tinywarbler.etsy.com.
Take a closer look at one of Kate's creations, and learn about the special fabric she uses.
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