Wood - a Gift of Nature
Toys from Ostheimer are made of wood – they always have been. This allows children to experience the pleasant warmth and vibrancy of this material and develop appreciation for this gift of nature.
Wood Wants to Stay Palpable
It is important to us that the wood we use remains palpable through all steps of production. In artistically sanding, painting, and oiling the surface, our skilled workers take care to ensure that the special quality of the wood remains visible and tangible.
The essence of the wood can and should express itself in our products. After all, it is this beautiful material that gives our toys their unique charisma, together with our dedication to manufacturing by hand. How different, on the other hand, are wooden toys that have been manufactured by machines and whose character is obscured by varnishes and paints.
Wood: A Living Material
Our deep appreciation for wood is reflected in how
we handle this living, natural raw material—from conscious sourcing from
regional forestry and careful processing to economical consumption and the
sensible use of wood scraps.
Our wood comes from sustainable Central European
forestry. It is treated with selected paints and oils certified for toy
manufacturing, preserving the wood's natural qualities and allowing children to
experience them firsthand.
In our surroundings, trees serve as a symbol of
life. They enrich our lives in many ways. The sight of them is uplifting and
invigorating. They provide us with natural shade, air that sustains life, and
abundant fruit. Wood also shapes our daily lives as a material for homes and
furniture, and in winter, it provides us with natural warmth.
Another great gift from trees is that people can
craft wooden toys from them. When treated subtly, the wood retains its natural
quality and vitality, exerting a soothing effect on children, who can
experience the primal essence of nature through wooden toys with all their
senses.
Wood Has Character and Makes Each Toy Unique
The selection of good wood plays an important role in the production of high-quality wooden toys. In light of the enormous importance that environmental issues have today, we as manufacturers also want to make an even greater contribution to the sustainable use of wood as a resource.
In past decades, making surfaces as uniform as possible was viewed as desirable in the manufacture of wooden toys – likely a spillover effect from the appearance of plastic products. However, striving for uniformity caused a significant share of our high-quality wood to end up as waste for purely visual reasons. This wasteful use of material did not sit right with us. So, for some years now, we have not only carefully optimized our use of the wooden boards we receive from our timber suppliers, but we have also allowed the wood in Ostheimer toys to show much more of its original character again.
Through our wooden toys - whether figures, vehicles, buildings or rocking horses - parents and children should experience that the grain of the wood makes each toy something unique and tells us humans about the vitality of the tree it came from.
