Kattuska's new 3 in 1 wooden wander + GIVEAWAY

You probably came across Kattuska wooden products on pinterest - beautiful, contemporary, eco friendly. Last week on Made in Hungary 2013 Kattuska presented their brand new toy/furniture piece, a 3 in 1 rocking horse/feeding chair/drawing table. Kattuska seems to traditionally be presenting new products during the Made in Hungary exhibition. Their debut as a brand happened during Made in Hungary last year. Hopefully we can see at least one new every year.

Read my interview with Kata Toth to learn more about the brand!

Designed to be easily converted to it's next function without reassembling it this rocking horse can be a perfect addition to smaller space homes without having to give up on something you'd normally not have the space for.

Kata Toth, the creative brain behind Kattuska is in love with horses since she was a kid. Multipurpose toys are not a novelty, this new product is a re-design of those more in one pieces that were already around in their childhood.

To celebrate Made in Hungary Bag of Pretty teamed up with Kattuska and Eastok Europe in order for you to be able to win this cool wooden sword.

4 wheely by Luka Jelušić - Cubodelubo

If you are a 4 year old girl whose dad is a Croatian product designer/ landscape architect Luka Jelušić who also loves reclaimed wood, this is what you get when you ask for a toy car...5 minutes before bedtime:

Cubodelubo

Also make sure to check out the fantastic zoozle and antoine.

Tree trunk rocking horse

The prettiest rocking horse by Israeli product designer Hilla Shamia. Unexpected, yet so simple.

World of Toys

Hello dear readers, I want to start this year with something very dear to my heart...WORLD OF TOYS.

 "At the very beginnings of civilization children's toys appear as one of the important elements of human development and one of the first records of design."

World of Toys project  of Zagreb Ethnographic Museum  consists of 4 exhibitions: Toys from the Croatian Heritage, From the World of Toys, Polish Traditional Toys and Toys Have a Heart. It was a nice winter outing for the whole family.

The most fun part was the central part of the exhibition, Toys form the Croatian Heritage. Most of the toys exhibited here belong to the Ethnographic Museum. The exhibition aims to demonstrate the wooden toy-making tradition and art of the Dalmatian hinterland, toys made in the villages of Prigorje and the Zagorje region that have been included on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage.

There are about 50 different wooden toys still being produced in Croatia (eg. horses, dollhouse furniture, wagons, whistles, birds, folk musical instruments) in the same way as in mid 19th century. Passed from generation to generation none of the toys is the same as they are made by hand, usually produced by men and painted by women.

I loved how the exhibition was set up. Dreamy wall decals were fantastic and exhibits of their own.

When I grow up I will be a Pegasus.

My Barbie.

They have a bunch of toys in a basket on the side to try out.

And a bunch of holes to stick your hands in and feel what the toys are made of...

smell what the toys are made of

Smell it!

Dig in and find out!

Nevertheless, P was still tempted to go where he shouldn't be going.

and touch what shouldn't be touched

They have set up a traditional toy making workshop...

The exhibition From the World of Toys features a selection of toys from the Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Russia and the Ukraine. Here are some of my favorites:

Doll House, Croatia 20. century

Matchbox miniatures, Germany

My absolute favorite from the whole exhibition is the Railway model made by kids from the Model making club. Specifically the grafitti written out on the railway building:

Sanja I am not as stupid as you might think!

Toys from the Croatian Heritage and From the World of Toys can be viewed until May 31st 2013
Polish Traditional Toys can be viewed until March 6th 2013
and Toys Have a Heart is only to be viewed from March 21st – May 31st 2013 (we still have to go and see that one).

You can see some more photos in my facebook album.

Tree stump tools - our Happy Toys

I came across a Happy Boat made out of tree stump on Pinterest and remembered I never showed you the tools we made this summer.

So here they are:

Poor toys by Poorex

Chore inspired wooden toys by a Polish brand Poorex. Meet Peg car, Sink car and Brush car.