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Bikeho
Bikeho Wooden Toys are manufactured in the workshops of the social-therapeutic community Birkenhof (Bi-ke-ho), a place that looks after and accommodates up to 50 adults who are impaired in their mental and physical development but are not fully dependent on care. The Birkenhof community was founded in 1953 on a park-like site near Lüneburg in Northern Germany. It has residential buildings as well as different workshops creating a common place of life with a village-like feel. The focus of this community based arrangement is to detect the strengths of each individual person and foster their skills by giving them a safe job with meaningful and fulfilling tasks.
Bikeho Wooden Toys are created in textile and timber workshops. Each workshop is run by competent and skilled experts who guide and support the employees with partial impairments. Together they create character-filled wooden building blocks, castle pieces and accessories, beautifully hand crafted from only the most natural of materials and finished with soft rounded edges.
Bikeho are not only known for their high quality wooden toys and social commitment, but also for caring about the environment by using sustainably grown alder timber. Every piece in the entire Bikeho range is shaped from a single solid piece of wood, giving the toys a robustness and quality that many others in their class don't have. When cut and exposed to air this type of timber changes from almost white to a light brown colour with a yellow tinge.
Please note that Bikeho Wooden Toys are not cut by machines into identical shapes, they are cut by eye and then sanded by hand. Bikeho toys are beautifully imperfect and natural, with unique traces of nature. Every Bikeho piece is unique, and it is this individual expression that separates Bikeho from other toy makers.
Bikeho toys are designed with Waldorf principles in mind, to spark creativity and foster imagination. The organic shapes of the building blocks challenge children to problem solve and experiment with different concepts while building and playing.
Each beautiful open ended piece can be played with independently or with other Bikeho items, allowing children to create beautiful small world set ups such as ancient townships, medieval castles or even pirate hideaways.
The natural, tactile wooden blocks with their hand-chiselled surfaces and rounded corners are also very pleasing to the senses.
Images: @steph.soj
Behind the Scenes at Bikeho
In June 2022, Simon visited the inspiring team at Bikeho and had the opportunity to see first hand just how much passion and hard work goes into creating each hand-crafted piece.
Bikeho is distributed in Australia by Wooden Playroom