Issue 04Channapatna, KarnatakaSince 2018
Toys that rock, roll & stack.
Turned by hand from soft ivory wood in Channapatna and coloured with plant-based lac. No sharp edges, no paint that flakes, nothing that needs a battery.
- GI-tagged craft
- Lac from plants
- 3–5 days across India
Six lacquered wooden blocks, carved with the letters W O O D E N, tumble down and settle into a pyramid. Tap or click them to knock the stack over.
[01]
The toy shelf
Every toy is turned one at a time, so the stripes on yours will sit a little differently. Grown-ups like that more than kids do.
[02]
From a log of ivory wood to a spinning top.
- 01 · SeasonSoft ivory wood is cut and left to dry for months, so it never cracks in a child’s hand.
- 02 · TurnOn the lathe, the turner shapes the spinning wood with a hand-held chisel. No moulds, no templates.
- 03 · ColourA stick of lac is pressed against the spinning toy. The friction warms it and the colour melts on.
- 04 · ShineA dried screw-pine leaf polishes it to that glassy finish. That is all: no spray paint.
01 / 04 · season
[03]
Made to be chewed on.
Little ones put everything in their mouths. So we make toys that are fine with that.
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Lac, not paint
Our colours come from lac (a natural resin) mixed with plant and mineral pigments. Nothing to peel off.
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Rounded everything
Every corner is turned soft on the lathe. If it could poke an eye, it does not leave the workshop.
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No small parts
Toys for under-threes have nothing that comes off: wheels are pinned through and glued with tamarind-seed glue.
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Built to be handed down
Seasoned wood and a lacquer shell mean the rocking elephant can go to a cousin, and then to theirs.
[04]
What do they play with at…
Little explorers
Pulling, pushing and stacking. They are learning cause and effect.
[05]
The workshop on Toy Town Road.
Channapatna sits halfway between Bengaluru and Mysuru, and people here have turned wooden toys for about two hundred years. Wooden Wonders started in 2018 with two lathes and Shabbir, who has turned spinning tops since he was twelve. Today seven turners and painters work with us, and we pay by the day, not by the piece, so nobody has to rush the rounding.
- 7
- turners & painters
- 62
- km from Bengaluru
- 2018
- first lathe switched on