THE STORY BEHIND
THE TOY SPOOL.
A little studio built around ideas, making and curiosity.
I DIDN'T SET OUT TO BUILD A BUSINESS.
For a long time, I made things that lived on a screen.
Designs. Illustrations. Characters. Stories.
I loved creating, but somewhere along the way, life became less about what I wanted to make and more about everything that needed to be done.
I became a mum. My world changed. My time changed. And for a while, my own creative voice became a little quieter.
But the ideas never really went away.
I kept wondering what it would feel like to create something of my own — something I could imagine, design, make and actually hold.
Then came a 3D printer.
At first, it was simply curiosity.
I started experimenting. I printed things that worked, things that didn't, and things that looked so much better on the screen than they did in real life. 😄
But somewhere between the failed prints and the little moments of “I actually made this,” something changed.
I realised I wasn't just learning 3D printing.
I was finding my way back to making.
And slowly, that became The Toy Spool.
A little creative studio born from a love for design, a head full of ideas, and the belief that even the smallest things can carry a little bit of joy, personality and meaning.
And this is only the beginning.
WHY 3D PRINTING?
Because an idea shouldn't have to stay on a screen.
01 — IMAGINE
Start with an idea, a sketch, a problem to solve — or simply something you wish existed.
02 — MAKE
Turn that idea into something real, one layer at a time.
03 — RETHINK
Print it. Test it. Improve it. Sometimes the first version isn't the final one — and that's part of the fun.
ONE PRINTER.
A HEAD FULL OF IDEAS.
The beginning of The Toy Spool.
IT STARTED WITH ONE PRINTER.
There wasn't a big studio.
There wasn't a team.
There wasn't a perfect business plan.
There was just one printer, one curious mind, and a lot of ideas.
I started with small experiments — figuring out how to turn something I imagined into something I could actually hold.
There were prints that worked.
Prints that didn't.
Ideas that looked brilliant on screen and made absolutely no sense once they came off the printer. 😄
But every mistake taught me something.
Every successful print made me want to try one more thing.
And slowly, those little experiments started becoming something bigger.
Not just products.
Not just a business.
A creative space of my own.
That is how The Toy Spool began.
AND WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED.
The Toy Spool is still small.
We're still learning.
Still experimenting.
Still figuring things out one print at a time.
But that's what makes this chapter special. Every product we design, every order we pack, every new idea we try is another little step in building something we believe in.
A place where design meets imagination.
Where ideas become tangible.
And where even something small can make someone smile.
There are so many things we haven't made yet.
And honestly, that's the most exciting part.