"The children's imagination is our inspiration".
This is the motto of Swedish company Our Children's Gorilla, which designs contemporary, environmentally-friendly, children's home accessories and toys. Love the name, love the ethics!
Our Children's Gorilla has been producing items that aim to spark imagination and creativity since 2002, and make it a priority to use ethically-sourced materials wherever possible.
Although the company may take its ethics seriously, it has a more playful approach when it comes to design.
A quirky sense of humour is injected into each item, which range from clothes hangers in the form of swinging monkeys to a wooden train set that nostalgically references the American steam liners of the 1940s.
New products and updated versions of older ones are added in early January each year. Products focus on longevity as opposed to "it toys" of the moment that children will tire of quickly.
Equally appealing to parents as children is the consistently neutral colour palette, which is treated as a blank canvas for children, or even parents if so desired, to hone their artistic skills on. A paper owl, snake and blowfish can be coloured in, framed and admired as posters or folded into hanging mobiles, for example.
One of my favourites is a wooden robot called Gary, made from FSC-certified wood, hemp and beeswax. Tough enough to survive many a fall, he's ideal to pass down to future generations.
The newest items to hit the site this year are wooden birds, made from recycled MDF, which slot together to form part puzzle, part decorative item.
The obvious effort and attention to detail by the designers is also being readily recognised. Our Children's Gorilla won gold this year in the illustrations category at the annual Kolla! competition in Sweden. It was their innovative face tapes that won them the award; children can stick various facial features onto pretty much anything to create no end of weird and wonderful characters.
One more thing worth mentioning is that the website is a joy to use. Aesthetically, it's adorable yet minimalist, but more importantly it's incredibly simple to navigate. A must for any busy parent when shopping online. [Amiee Jones]