Natural Materials

“Toys of today are usually produced by technology and not by nature. They are made by the complicated mixing of plastics, which is hygienic but ugly; they take away the pleasure and sweetness of touching. It is very dangerous that wood is progressively disappearing from our life. But wood is a material that is familiar and poetic; it gives the child a continuity of contact with a tree, a table, the floor. Wood does not cut, does not spoil, does not break easily, can last for a long time, and live with the child. It can modify, little by little, the relationship between objects which are timeless; now toys are chemical and do not give pleasure. These toys break very soon and they do not have any future life for the child.”

Roland Barthes, Myths of Today