How we started at greengrub Wooden Toys, Australia

My name is Greg; owner and toymaker at greengrub Wooden Toys. 

The very first idea to start making wooden toys for sale came when our son was born and we visited a few toy shops and department stores. We got very overwhelmed about the stacks of plastic toys with quite expensive price tags. We hear more and more about reducing plastic waste in the media like straws and cups and brilliant documentaries were recently broadcast about excessive plastic waste in our society. We are surrounded by it every day and toys were no exception, so in  we decided to open greengrub Wooden Toys.

I have been interested in woodworking for over 20 years. Firstly with small projects, moving to making my own furniture and now to wooden toys. My latest project was to build a treehouse in our suburban backyard for my kids to enjoy nature and the outdoors. Check out a picture of the start of construction in an earlier Blog post.

We thought; lets share our passion of natural materials and make wooden toys for other families in Australia. Australia has an amazing natural beauty and we need to protect it. Hardwood was out question as it destroys beautiful many hundred year old trees. On one of our trips to Maui Island in Hawaii to visit sister in law, we went for a bamboo forest hike. It was truly majestic standing in the middle of the forest and just listening to the noise of the bamboo stalks rattling in the wind. That was the moment we thought why not bamboo. You can buy bamboo furniture, gifts, chopping boards and artefacts all over Maui. It is sustainable which means bamboo renews itself very quickly after cutting. Another significant advantage is Bamboo is strong and very durable so is well suited to making toys.

Our toy designs were embraced and supported by parents and grand parents and we have had fantastic feedback from the general public and also met some other amazing small business owners along the way. So thanks for your support and we look forward to putting a smile on many more little faces.