Friends of mine found a neat “media mention” of the our blocks in Canadian House & Home Magazine (June 2010 edition). Thanx Kimberley (of House & Home) for this great photo, who found the blocks at Swipe (Toronto, Books on Advertising and Design). It is very humbling to see all the other great classic toys on the same page.
Hello,
Our blocks were on TV last night as part of CHCH news in Hamilton. Unfortunately there was no mention of us, but footage of kids playing with them. Gosh, I really need my branding iron to come in :-) Maybe I can even track down some video online about it.
Cheers, Hans
We recieved our business. They are the “Worlds Greenest Business Cards” from Traffic Design. Bernard Hellen made it possible for us. Here are the specs:
If you would like to order some for you, please contact Bernard Hellen @trafficdesign at Traffic Design in Toronto.
Cheers, Hans
I was contacted by a Hamilton newspaper (The Hamilton Spectator, Active Kids “add-in”, published today). They were interested in my opinion about green play. Unfortunately I was so busy that I didn’t send my answers back in time. I still wanted to share it with the world so here is what I said:
1) What are the benefits (to both children and the environment) of “green
play”
In my opinion “green play” brings us back to the “good old play”. Green toys invest twice into the future of our kids. Once in the children themselves, by offering them few toys that are high in value, and that actually stimulate our kids brains and help them grow to become physically and mentally healthy adults. And secondly, these toys also protect the environment that our kids grow up in.
We have come to see the effects of cheaply designed toys both on the environment (air pollution for transportation and pollution in landfills, because these toys break fast and rarely outlast one childs play) and on the children themselves (dangerous toxins in the toys).
2) What are some of the ways you recommend that children can play green
This is a catch 22 as a toy maker. I recommend buying less “stuff”. Children need very little. My daughter loves playing with our tupperware. We all know that they will play more with the box of a toy, then with the toy itself. This is hard for grandparents, because they love giving gifts. Instead of buying many toys, maybe pool together and get those toys that last for a long time, and that encourage role play and creativity. Instead of a new computer game (virtual drawing game), give them some water colors, a big paint brush and a huge sheet of paper (and an old shirt so they don’t wreck their clothes). Toys should be a vehicle of creativity, and not rob our kids of their colorful phantasy.
Furthermore I recommend buying toys that are safe, preferably natural materials (organic cloth, natural wood). Some toys cannot be made with these materials so choose safe plastics (no BPA, no lead paints, no phthalates) and try to buy them as local as possible (this will reduce the CO2 emissions for transportation).
Last but not least, let kids play outside as much as they can. Let them run around, climb trees, discover little bugs, play in dirt with sticks and stones. I encourage adults to be like kids again as well. Go along with your kids, let them show you what they discover. Kids love it. At the end of the day it matters most that you were there for them, and they will be much more relaxed and tired because of the fresh air and movement in the great outdoors (or your backyard). Your kids will go to sleep and dream of beautiful landscapes with flowers and butterflies.
Hi everyone, I just created this ad for the Hamilton Spectators Special “Active Kids” insert that is going to come out this week. What do you think?
Hi everyone,
Thanks to GET (Green Enterprises Toronto) and the City of Toronto (that sponsored the ISO 14001 seminar) I can now officially announce to you that Ukoonto is now ISO 14001 compliant.
ISO 14001 is an environmental management system that enables us to become an even greener company over time. It also enables us to show you that we are not greenwashing our company or our products.
For more info on what ISO 14001, please visit this (very formal) site.
Just a really quick note, we added another exciting store to our list in Ottawa. They are called Red Chair Kids and it looks like a really neat store. You can check them out online right here. There is even a little video about the store in the “about us section“.
Today I’m proudly annoucing that we have won a spot at the Socially Responsible Design Exhibit at the Toronto Airport (in International Departures). Our building blocks will be displayed for some time for the world to see. I’m not 100% certain when the exhibit is going to start (the original dates were pushed back) but I will definitely let you know.
PS: We’ll also post some photos here of the exhibit.
just a quick update. We now have stores selling the blocks in Alberta and New Brunswick. Some more are coming in Ontario really soon (Ottawa, Hamilton and Oakville).
I think that Vancouver really needs to pull up the table now :-)
You can view the list right here.
Hi everyone,
a quick message from the Ukoonto Headquarter: We are done hybernating, the busy business is continuing :-)
I (Hans) took some time off to forge some plans for this upcoming year. It almost seems like time is running away again though. This upcoming weekend Ukoonto will be part of the Toy Fair in Toronto… selling blocks to stores for the Christmas season of 2009. Very exciting.
So much for now. If you are a store owner and you are coming to the toy fair, please stop by at our booth (I think it’s #301).
Cheers, Hans
