myduckling New Zealand

Tested like a toy, built like furniture

Safe by design

The corner is carefully rounded and hand-sanded because, for a smaller sibling, a footrest can sit right at forehead height.

Then there’s the safety you can’t see. In New Zealand, toys for children under 3 are subject to mandatory safety standards, while children’s furniture is not held to the same requirements. 

We choose to test our furniture to relevant toy safety standards anyway, including EN 71-3 migration testing, which screens for the migration of 19 elements that could be released if a child chews, scratches or mouths the surface.

A ladder of small decisions

Set it again next year

That column of holes may be easy to overlook, but it’s what helps the chair adapt as your child grows. Raise the seat, adjust the footrest, and little feet are supported again for a more comfortable sitting position.

Adjustability is built into many pieces across our range. The AURORA Toddler Dining Chair, for example, offers eight seat heights and five footrest positions for a tailored fit through different stages.

Where every piece starts

The materials we build with

Everything we make starts as timber on a workbench and ends with careful hands smoothing every edge and corner, because those small details matter when furniture is made for children.

We work with four different woods, choosing each one for the job it needs to do, considering its strength, durability and purpose, rather than simply choosing the easiest material to shape.

The one that stays put

Solid, and you can see it

Look closely at the edge and you’ll see narrow boards joined side by side, carefully planed and sanded until the joins become part of the grain. That’s solid rubberwood, a genuine hardwood with a naturally straight grain and warm, light tone that can deepen over time.

It offers a considered balance of strength, stability and manageable weight. Our solid rubberwood learning tower, for example, weighs 8kg, substantial enough to provide a sturdy base during everyday use, while still being practical for an adult to reposition when needed.

The one that takes the load

Where the forces go

Look closely at beechwood and you’ll see a fine, tight grain with subtle natural rays running through the timber. That dense structure gives solid beechwood its strength and durability, making it well suited to furniture designed to handle active everyday use.

It’s the wood we choose when a piece needs to work particularly hard. You’ll find solid beechwood across products such as our Wooden Kids Cutting Knife Set and ELI Kids Bed Rail where strength, stability and long-lasting construction are especially important.

The lightest one

Warm, pale, easy to live with

Pine is the one that still smells like a workshop the moment it's cut.

It comes up pale and honey-warm, with long straight grain you can follow the length of a board. It makes a room feel lighter, not heavier.

It's light to handle, too, which is why it's the timber for our NALA Adjustable Bookshelf. Easy to carry into place and position where you need it, then securely anchored to the wall to hold a whole little library, with books displayed covers-out at your child’s own height.

Nothing hidden inside

What lets a shape get clever

Plywood is what makes our adjustable designs possible. Thin layers of real wood are laid in alternating directions and bonded together, creating a strong, stable panel that helps moving and adjustable parts stay aligned through everyday use.

Look closely at the edge and you can see how it’s made. Each layer of real wood has its own natural colour, grain, and character, creating the subtle variations in tone you see throughout the plywood. No two layers are exactly alike, and together they give each panel its own unique character.

Layer upon layer of real wood. No MDF, no particleboard.

The piece you don't replace

Slow wood, slow furniture

A seedling this size won't become furniture for another forty years. That's the real timescale of the material we work with and it shapes the way we design.

We choose wood with longevity in mind, create adjustable settings that keep up as children grow, and design timeless shapes made to be enjoyed by the next child, too.

One of the greenest choices is a piece nobody has to buy twice.