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A Letter
from Georgia
We are making new type of wooden animal figures for 2008. They are rounder and
very cute. They are not covered with polish and they are not painted. We are
using different precious, nicely-structured wood/timbre (pear-tree, walnut-tree,
beech, etc.) and we process toys with beeswax oil. I like them very much.
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Simple Playthings
By
Michael Dresdner
In 1997, two friends, Niko Tsilik and Merab Kuchukhidze, started
making wooden toys in Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia.
That’s Georgia the country, not the state. Georgia, which used
to be part of the USSR, is an independent nation situated on the
Black Sea between Turkey and Russia.
Along
with a handful of other workers, mostly relatives, Niko and
Merab make a wide range of charming, but simple,
wooden toys. Each
toy is hand carved from local woods, and painted using food-safe
colors. They make toys that are simple enough to inspire
imaginative play, but accurate enough to evoke realism.
Niko, who originally had the idea in the 1980s, felt there was a
need for simple, well-made wooden toys for children. He met
Merab in the late 1990s, and the two of them started the
business. For them, it is more than just making toys; it is
doing something that is right and helpful for childhood
education. The toys are not elaborate or intricately carved, but
are clear, simple representations of common themes. Some are
solid, while others have moving parts, such as wheels, a working
teeter-totter, spinning propellers, and articulated limbs.
Niko
and Merab find guiding principles for their intentionally simple
toy creations in the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. Steiner was
an Austrian philosopher active in the early 20th century. He is
considered the founder of the Waldorf private schools, which
remain active today in many countries. On the
Waldorf
School web page,
Barbara Shell explains the idea behind simple toys as follows:
“The less finished and the more suggestive a toy may be, the
greater its educational value, for it really enlivens the
imaginative life of the child.”
At
first, Niko and Merab copied things from their own area: tools,
buildings, trees and common animals. Eventually the line
expanded, and it now includes exotic animals, mythological
beasts, trains, airplanes, castles, knights and characters from
folk legends, fairy tales and Biblical stories. Some characters
display the clothing styles of various indigenous groups, both
past and present, while others play out common local lore. One
tableau, for example, consists of a woman with a kerchief
between two fighters. The story it portrays recounts that in
olden times, young men would often duel until a young maiden
with a kerchief would throw it between them to end the fight.
Manufacturing is far from easy in that part of Georgia.
Electricity comes on only once or twice a day, usually for a
couple of hours, and they don’t know when that will be. When
they can, they use power tools, but otherwise, most everything
is done by hand. Heat is also lacking; these woodworkers must
bundle up against the cold. Needless to say, this endeavor does
not pay well, and is as much a labor of love as profit.
Their
toys first showed up in the United States in large part due to
Frank and DoloresRose Dauenhauer. DoloresRose runs the nonprofit
Rudolf Steiner bookstore,
where many of the Georgian toys grace the shelves. “I have a
friend in Vancouver,” DoloresRose explained, “who went to Russia
every year with a group of educators and artists to help locals
develop educational and arts programs. While in Georgia, she
went into a local toy shop and immediately fell in love with
these toys. She brought back a few, and I started selling them
in the bookstore.” They were so well received that she and her
husband decided to import them and soon became the sole
distributor in North America.
“I
love wood, so it is easy for me to run this business,” said
Frank, a hobby woodworker who frequently makes the scenery for
his wife’s puppet theater. In addition to the bookstore,
DoloresRose runs the
Willow
Branch Puppet Theater, another nonprofit, and The Pacific
Northwest School of Puppetry.
“The Georgians seem to have a knack for making toys that capture
the soul of the animals, myths and people that they portray,”
said DoloresRose. “The look and feel of the toys inspired us to
want to bring these into the country,” Frank added, “and once we
brought them in, customers raved about them. We’ve had nothing
but positive responses. We’ve never had a return, and nothing
but good has come out of it.”
Along
with a handful of other workers, mostly relatives, Niko and
Merab make a wide range of charming, but simple,
Niko
and Merab find guiding principles for their intentionally simple
toy creations in the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner. Steiner was
an Austrian philosopher active in the early 20th century. He is
considered the founder of the Waldorf private schools, which
remain active today in many countries. On the
At
first, Niko and Merab copied things from their own area: tools,
buildings, trees and common animals. Eventually the line
expanded, and it now includes exotic animals, mythological
beasts, trains, airplanes, castles, knights and characters from
folk legends, fairy tales and Biblical stories. Some characters
display the clothing styles of various indigenous groups, both
past and present, while others play out common local lore. One
tableau, for example, consists of a woman with a kerchief
between two fighters. The story it portrays recounts that in
olden times, young men would often duel until a young maiden
with a kerchief would throw it between them to end the fight.
Their
toys first showed up in the United States in large part due to
Frank and DoloresRose Dauenhauer. DoloresRose runs the nonprofit
“I
love wood, so it is easy for me to run this business,” said
Frank, a hobby woodworker who frequently makes the scenery for
his wife’s puppet theater. In addition to the bookstore,
DoloresRose runs the
