Made to be the one they keep

The first year is one long run of firsts, and Baby Starters exists for them. That is the whole brief the studio works to, and it decides more than it sounds like it should.

A first toy has to survive being chewed, washed and dragged along a hallway floor, and it has to be light enough for arms that are three months old. So the rattle goes inside the body rather than on a stick, the eyes are embroidered rather than moulded, and one edge is satin because that is the part a baby finds first. Everything after those three decisions is decoration.

We prototype at home. A sample lives in one of our houses for a month, goes through the washer more times than any reasonable person would, and comes back approved or cut. Plenty get cut, usually for the same reason: the seam that a baby learns to pick at.

The range grew the way families grow. Someone wanted a lovey for a first Easter, then a first Halloween, then a turkey with a rattle in the tail. Now 6 of those dates have a shelf of their own, and the rest of the range stays deliberately plain, because most of the year is not a holiday.

Two things this range does not do. It has nothing for a toddler who wants to build, sort or take apart, because everything here is soft and nothing here has parts. And the musical pieces hold a sound box, so they get wiped rather than washed, which makes them the wrong gift for a household that wants to throw a toy in with the sheets.