Why I’m Making More Toys from Leather

Leather has always been the material I know best.

It’s what I learnt to work with, what I’ve spent years cutting, stitching, repairing and experimenting with, and naturally it’s the material I keep coming back to when I start thinking about something new.

Lately, that “something new” has been toys.

Not plastic toys, not highly finished sets with one specific purpose, but simple pieces for open-ended play. Playscapes, crowns, masks, little worlds for peg dolls, bits and pieces children can add to whatever story they’re already creating.

And the more I make them, the more leather makes sense.

Leather can handle real play

One of the things I love most about leather is that it doesn’t need to stay perfect!

It can be rolled up, carried around, dragged across the floor, bent, handled and used over and over again. It softens with time and develops character rather than just looking worn out.

That matters to me with children’s things.

I don’t want to make toys that look beautiful on a shelf but feel too precious to actually use. I want them to be handled properly.

Leather also has a practical side. It’s easy to wipe clean and, unlike wool felt, it doesn’t tend to pill, fluff or collect quite as much dust over time.

I still love wool felt. It’s warm, tactile and incredibly beautiful, and I’ll absolutely keep using it. But for certain pieces, especially playscapes and dress-up items, leather has a durability that’s hard to beat.

The scraps are becoming part of the idea

Leatherwork always creates offcuts ++

When you cut around the natural shape of a hide, there are inevitably smaller pieces left behind. Some are useful for repairs or testing, and some are just too good to throw away.

The children’s range has given those scraps a completely new purpose.

A small blue piece can become a river. Green can become a meadow. Red can become a flower, a mushroom roof or part of a little house. Strange shapes suddenly become useful again.

That’s the funnest part of making the playscapes.

I’m not trying to make every one identical.

I’m looking at the leather I have and asking what it could become. Really using my imagination and creativity.

It suits the kind of play I want to encourage

I’ve been drawn more and more to Waldorf and Steiner-inspired ideas around play, especially the emphasis on imagination and giving children enough space to create their own story.

That’s why I’ve been keeping parts of the playscapes simple.

There might be a river, a bridge or a few stitched flowers, but not every inch needs to be filled in.

The empty meadow can become a campsite, a village, a castle, a farm or somewhere completely made up.

Add peg dolls, gnomes, Ostheimer animals, Grimm’s blocks or whatever happens to be nearby, and the whole thing changes again.

That feels much more interesting to me than making a toy that only works one way.

I like that leather feels a little unexpected

Leather isn’t the first material most people think of when they think about children’s toys.

And I actually like that.

There’s something lovely about taking a material usually used for bags, shoes or homewares and turning it into a small world for children.

It makes the pieces feel a bit different, but still very much connected to the rest of Fauna & the Moon.

The same leather, the same hand stitching, the same focus on making things to last but just used in a more playful way.

I think this is where the brand is naturally heading

Fauna & the Moon started with leather bags, but I’ve never wanted it to stop there.

Home pieces, toys, dress-up, artwork, small world play... they all make sense to me when the thread running through them is the same.

Natural materials. Handmade pieces. Fewer things, made better. Things that are used often and kept for a long time AND are useful to the whole home, not just grown-ups.

So yes, there will be more leather toys coming.

Probably more felt too.

And fabric, or a blend of all three.

But leather will always be at the centre of it, because it’s the material I know, the material I trust, and the one I keep finding new ways to use.

Warmly,

Sarina