Kai aš mažas buvau

Lithuanian Handmade Toys and Children's Pieces. The Brand Name Translates as "When I Was Small."

Right. The brand name first, since it's rather lovely. "Kai aš mažas buvau" is Lithuanian for "When I was small" — also, by happy coincidence, the title of a much-loved 1968 Lithuanian film. The brand itself is a small handmade goods studio in Lithuania producing properly considered toys, soft pieces, and home accents for babies and toddlers — built around the slightly more durable proposition that children's things should be made well enough to actually pass down to the next generation, rather than ending up in landfill before the second birthday party. Everything is made by hand, with what the team rather charmingly describes as "a lot of heart in every product," and the editorial register is gently considered, deliberately tactile, and quietly characterful.

The catalogue covers the genuinely useful pieces of a small child's life. The hero range is the handmade soft animal toy-pillows — large (45–50cm), proper companions rather than impulse-buys: a Flamingo, a Wolf, a Fox, a Lion, a Swan, an Alpaca. The wooden side covers growth charts (the sort of thing one engraves and keeps for thirty years), memory boxes (for the first tooth, the first hair clipping, the first concert ticket — all the small archival items of a life), and original framed art prints in the same restrained palette. There are food-grade silicone teethers for the early stage, blankets, and a small selection of soft furniture pieces. Pricing sits in the €10–€130 range, ships from Lithuania, and arrives in the kind of considered packaging that makes a gift feel properly given.

For more pieces from independent makers, browse our Baby & Kids and Baby Toys collections. Discover complementary makers in our Baltic Brands edit, find more for the youngest in the household via Nursery Décor, and find brands chosen for how they make things via Sustainable Brands.