Reviews
Click on titles below to see the reviews:
Country Life – December 2020 – Girls and Boys and Their Wooden Toys
“Our understanding about sustainable wood is improving,” assures David Plagerson, who makes exquisite, hand-carved toys from his garden workshop in Devon. “I buy my wood from a farmer in Dartmoor who seasons his own timber….” Read more here
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This England – Winter 2018 – Made in England
“Artists are often pictured in their studios surrounded by half-worked canvas, paint-splattered furniture and a whole assortment of materials – and David Plagerson’s studio is no different. The air is thick with the aroma of varnish and paint; the whole space is crammed with paint pots, rough hog-hair brushes and a mishmash of containers….” Read more here
Country Life – November 27th 2013 – Meet the real elves
“Although his creations are miniature works of art, he hates the thought of them not being played with. If they end up getting a bit bashed, I can always re-sand and paint them. He uses as many as 17 types of wood when modelling his Mixed Woods Ark sets and pays special attention to giving their faces a real sense of character. What makes me happiest is all the correspondence I receive from parents saying how much their children love playing with my toys….” Read more here
Country Living – December 2008 – Toys to Treasure
“People who buy my toys care about aesthetics and children’s play, and usually love the idea of the toys being passed down through families,” says David, as he begins to dot the eyes on a bashful-looking donkey. “I sometimes do have to encourage people not to be precious about them because there’s no need. They’re totally child-proof…” Read more here
Reviews:
In a wooden shed at the bottom of a rambling garden in Totnes, Devon, a snowy-haired man is whittling away at a wooden block that he is slowly carving into a small donkey. It is mid-winter, but inside it’s warm and cosy, and all that is needed is the sound of jingling bells and the whinny of a reindeer for it to feel just like the Santa’s workshop of a child’s imagination.
Each Noah’s Ark set is an individual selection from within my existing range of ark designs, and over 100 different pairs of animals. The list continues to grow. Both children and adults have asked me to create everything from exotic, extinct and mythical animals, to family pets. I can also make bespoke arks, based on your own home.
Many customers build up their sets over a period of time. Usually they start with an Ark and I post them a pair of animals each month.