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ABOUT US
In 1973 our family fled the “big city industrial rat race” to live in the small town of Solon, Maine, where we started the Different Drummer Workshop. We have remained a small family wood craft business, aimed at making traditional wooden toys, at reasonable prices, and using native Maine resources.
Our wooden toys are best known for the quality of their craftsmanship. The primary material is white pine, and every board of wood is carefully selected to show off its natural beauty and grain. The completed wooden toy is finely sanded to a satin smooth natural finish
In designing and building our toys, safety, simplicity, and durability are the main considerations. In manufacturing we make sure that all joints are solidly glued, that corners and edges are well rounded, and all surfaces are sanded smooth and feel soft and pleasant to touch. No artificial finishes are applied to our wooden toys, except to the Sail Boat, Lobstah Boat, and the “executive desk toys” and games parts, thus reducing concern about toxic substances going into a child’s mouth.
We believe that toys intended for children should be non-violent and simple in design, allowing the child to use his or her own imagination (instead of a battery) to fill in whatever details are needed at the time of play. Only those wooden toys aimed at older kids (adults) are designed with extra details.
Another thing for which our wooden toys are known is their durability. Now that we have been making wooden toys for more than a generation we constantly have grandparents tell us about buying a rocking horse or a choo-choo train for one of their own kids, now grown, who has just passed it down to a new grandchild. Often they’ll exclaim about how much play the toy received, perhaps thru several kids, and how well it stood the test!
The “MAINE MADE - AMERICA’S BEST” label which appears at the top of each page as part of our logo, is affixed to all of our toys. It signifies that our products have been juried into this State sponsored program, reflecting the time honored tradition of skilled craftsmanship for which Maine has long been known. The label is reproduced below. Move your mouse pointer over it to read the reverse side, or go to our “Links” page to read more about this program.
The Different Drummer Workshop does most of its wooden toy business with small gift shops throughout the country. Some of the larger shops and their locations are listed on the “Outlets” page. Also, among our regular customers are several Waldorf Schools who use our wood toys in their schools, and offer them for sale in their gift shops and in fund raising efforts.
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