About Top Toys

3D Connect Four sets, Christmas 2016

I like to build wooden toys. I have a beard. I have enough room in my house for the beard, but not for all the toys. You can capitalise on the situation by buying wooden toys hand made by men with beards from craft markets!

I design all my own toys, often taking inspiration from my geeky hobbies - table top gaming, sci-fi, and a slightly worrying obsession with the automobile and cats. And cats driving automobiles. And robotic cats driving automobiles. As a result, I have made everything from cat-shaped pencil holders to wooden muscle cars and robots, as well as coasters which when you get right down to it, have go-faster stripes on them...

Carpet Cruiser container ship, Christmas 2016

All of my toys are designed to be safely chewed on by small and excited children. I use only food safe finishing oils and non-toxic paints, and always aim to design toys which are sturdy, durable and exciting.

I don't have much of a workshop myself, so I borrow the wood work room at the school where I teach once a week after hours. This means I only really get two hours or so of shop time per week, so I like to make the most of it with fairly quick projects. It's also the reason why I don't do too many craft markets - it takes a while to build up stock.