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.
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
Come and play with us at the Locke Street Festival in Hamilton. I will be there with many building blocks in a neat outdoor setting right at the Citizen Kid store. 
We will also be having a raffle for a set of building blocks (maybe even multiple ones :-) ). The Blocks will also be on sale for a special price.
So come by, play with a bit. I love meeting new people.
P.S.: You can see the event on facebook here and invite some of your friends out.
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Link to Locke Street Festival online.
If you need directions to the Citizen Kid, you can find that here.
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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 must announce that we have to say good bye to a good friend: the “Daily Mini”. It’s been a while since I dropped the “Daily” anyways. Let me explain.
Ukoonto had been getting a lot of press lately and the orders for building blocks started pouring in. In order to get the orders out the door as quickly as possible (to prevent any screw ups by the Post), I had to spend a lot of time figuring out how process’ can be sped up. Things are going very well and on average it takes 2.5 days between receiving an order and it going out ther door. This was not without sacrifice and I had to find more time in the day.
The Mini was really time intensive, about 1 hour to get everything done:
After dropping the “daily”, some people thought that the “Mini” was a specific set of blocks that we are selling. We are only selling one set at this point, and it’s anything but Mini.
However, there is a replacement though :-) I am still posting pictures of new creations with the blocks online, which you can view in a slideshow, which is linked right from the front page.
For now, I’ve got to go back to the North Pole and be a little Santa Elf.
Cheers, Hans
I think it’s kind of a Greek themed building.
Hi everyone,
I’ve exciting news. I did a trip to Toronto today and more and more stores are deciding to support Ukoonto and are now carrying our Building Blocks. I’m very excited about it, because soon the Healthy Kids Expo is happening in Toronto. Ukoonto might potentially get a lot of good publicity from that expo (remember? Ukoonto’s Building Blocks are a featured item in the keynote presentation by Dr. Oz.). For anyone that can’t come to the show, but hears or sees about us, they can now check out the blocks in real brick and mortar stores.
The first store that is already carrying the blocks is “Planet Kid” on Queen Street. A very nice store, and Sara the owner is super nice. Even if you are not looking for anything specific, but you have a little munshkin at home, check the store out, it’s really neat.
We are also in contact with a few other stores, but since they have not yet received the actual shipment of Building Blocks, I don’t want to list them here yet. They will be added to the list of stores really soon though.
So check back really soon.
Cheers, Hans
PS: We are also listed at Parents Best Toys.com/Toys Made In The USA, if you own a set of our blocks and you really like them (which I believe all of you do :-) ), please be so kind and leave a review of the Building Blocks. I would really appreciate that.
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Hi everyone,
today I finished the design for the labels that will be applied to the boxes for the building blocks. Have a look for yourself. I’m not 100% satisfied, but it’s the best that I was able to do in the time given. I think my brain might be dried out, I have no more creative juices left. If you have any suggestions, please leave comment. I would love to have your input.
This is the front of the box (it raps around two sides, so that no matter how you stack the box, you see “the front”). (FYI: It’s in CMYK mode, which is why the green does not match up, it will be fixed after seeing a proof).
This is the back of the box. It’s a little bit full, but I think the amount of information is necessary.
So what do you think? Please comment numerous, even just give me a short thumbs up or down. Every type of feedback that I get will really help me.
Cheers, Hans
PS: Would you mind proof reading it for me? I’m never sure when my crazy German brain is taking over :-)
Today I’m working on the packaging. I’ve been contacting a lot of companies that make great packaging. One thing is clear, I would like to keep the footprint caused by packaging as small as possible. Really not easy, considering that it takes so much to create packaging, that is just going to be thrown out in the end.
One way of making the packaging relevant was to put the blocks into cloth bags. I really like it, but it adds to much cost the product and doesn’t seem to add enough value for the Ukunto fans. I’m still thinking how I can create packaging that is the shipping box and the product packaging in one. At least, this way you reduce the use of one box.
Have you come across any really cool innovative designs? Please let me know, I’d love to see it.
Cheers, Hans
