It started with a living room full of cold plastic.

I'm Louise — a mum of two — and I was tired of toys that clattered, cluttered, and were forgotten by the weekend. Bright, breakable, cold. I wanted the opposite: toys made from real wood, with warmth and character, that a child could love for years and pass on rather than throw away.

But I didn't want flat wood — I wanted round, smooth edges, made to be held. And I didn't want just wood, either. So I added soft plush for cuddliness, and rope inside, so every animal could bend, pose, and get up to adventures. Then I gave each one a smile. Round not flat. Warm not cold.

So in 2006, I made them real. Anamalz launched in Australia — a little family of handcrafted wooden animals with real personality — and by 2007 they'd travelled to the world's biggest toy fair in Nuremberg, where the rest of the world fell for them too.

Nearly two decades on, Anamalz have found homes in over 30 countries — on shelves from Baby Gap and Barnes & Noble to Waterstones, the San Diego Zoo, and even the Smithsonian. Along the way they've collected more than 15 awards (including the Australian International Design Award and the Oppenheim Platinum) and been featured everywhere from the Martha Stewart Show to a Financial Times piece on "toymakers nurturing a greener generation."

Somewhere along the way, I realised something: Anamalz weren't only for children. They spoke to the inner child in grown-ups too — and I think that's what makes them so special. They're loved, and they last, for generations.

Which is why the thing I'm proudest of isn't the awards. It's the messages from families who've kept their Anamalz for fifteen years and can't bear to part with them — "my kids grew up on these, and we still have them; they're too gorgeous to throw away." That's the whole point.

Made to last. Made to love. Forever.

Every Anamalz is still handcrafted from sustainable wood — round-edged, plush-soft, bendy, and smiling — in a solar-powered, Japanese-run workshop in Vietnam that we think of as our second home.

Welcome to the world of Anamalz. I'm so glad you found us.

Lou x