I find this very touching, what do you think about all this?

I just found a blog post about “Toronto’s Best Baby Stores” on blog T.O. . The post is from summer 2009 (I guess better late than never :-) ). Many of the stores sell our wooden building blocks. It feels great to be part of it all.

This is a little blurb on the evening news in Hamilton. Lots of game action with Ukoonto blocks.

So if you guys ever want to go to a really fun store that has a lot of really nice toys in the Hamilton area, you should visit Citizen Kid.

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

I just got an email from a store owner. It made me smirk.

“Kids are always enjoying our demo blocks in the store, actually I am dumbfounded that more people don’t buy them. Every single kid I show thinks they are great and plays a long time. Maybe you should make them out of lead based plastic!”

I will have to get right on that… NOT!

I visited the Socially Responsible Design Exhibit at the Toronto International Airport yesterday. It was great seeing what others are doing, some great ideas and some really neat other products that are manufactured in Canada.

A huge thank you to Lee, who is the curator for the art at the airport. She does a great job and is very passionate about representing Canada at the airport is great. “It is often the first and last impression of Canada for travellers.”

She also told me that Treehugger reported on the show and that our blocks are featured in their article. Thank You Treehugger.

(click on image to see the blog post at treehugger.com)

I just thought I would post a picture of the smart. I met Bernard Hellen from TheWorldsGreenestBusinessCard.com when I picked up our new business cards recently, and he mentioned that I didn’t mention it here anywhere. Well, here it is :-)

PS: I really want to make it look like a wooden toy car very soon…

“Can you put on music for the target?” One person asked me this weekend at a show (I still subsidize my income as a sound guy – my formal profession). The show was a free promo event from Nestea (Coca-Cola). I didn’t quite get what she was talking about until I realized she was talking in advertising terms.

Lets not just see our kids as targets anymore. Our children are not just some statistic on legs, not just an average dollar amount that they will spend in life. Lets become more human and listen to each other. Become friends and help communities.

Photo: Shawnigan Lake Backroads http://www.snorrigunnarsson.com/

I just found this picture on flickr. The photographers comment was “I thought clear cutting was a thing of the past.” It is sad, but still there. Please help in making a difference. Start by buying FSC products, and stop buying Kimberly Clark products (Scotties, Kleenex, etc.)

One thing that I struggle with on a regular basis is that we have so much stuff in Canada/the US. Worse even, we think we really need the stuff that we have. Have you ever thought of what you REALLY need? It’s not very much. A bed, some clothes (not many), a stove, a few few pots and pans, and cutlery. Clean water and some food. Really that’s pretty much what we need to live. Well, I’m exaggerating, but when it comes down to it, not that much more.
You probably all know that I used to live in Africa as a kid. As kids, we didn’t need a lot of things. I used to mainly tinker around outside, building my tree house, playing with friends, just wasting time away and loving life.
This also reflects what I want to create for Ukoonto. Simple toys, that are valuable. Toys that don’t just break in a few months, and especially not those that make our children have ADD or other disorders. Don’t get me wrong, I love design, and a love really fun toys, but it’s certainly no Mattel.
I’ve always loved the company TOMS Shoes. Do you know them? In 2006 Tom did a trip to Argentina. He found people that were getting sick, and preventing those diseases is so simple: a pair of shoes. So for every pair of shoes that we by at TOMS Shoes, they will give an equal pair of shoes to people that really need it. Watch the story about TOMS Shoes:

Where does this all tie in with Ukoonto? I like the idea of “One for One”. Buy one computer, a second one is given away to a child in need (does that ring a bell :-) “One Laptop per Child”. I don’t think kids in Third World countries need the toys that we make though. They have such fantastic ways of playing and making their own toys. I would still love to give children in Third World countries something that they need. Something that we take for granted. Maybe books, stuff they need so they can go to school, food, or how about just clean drinking water.
What do you think?