About

Little Toy Dogs are fine quality, heirloom, collector's toys, designed by artist Alice Wood and made by hand in her London studio.

Alice uses traditional toy making materials and processes. She creates patterns from drawings of each breed. Dogs have cotter pin jointed legs, English glass eyes and are finished by hand with fabric dye, hand embroidery and decorative elements that make each one unique. The materials are all natural: 100% wool felt and beautiful mohair fur fabric made by Steiff Schulte and Helmbold in Germany. There are only a few surviving textile mills who still make this exclusive fabric. The mohair (sheared from the mohair goat) is looped onto a cotton backing using specialised looms and has been used to make the best Teddy bears and toys for over 100 years.

Alice studied pattern cutting before training in Illustration at Camberwell School of Art and has an MA in Children's Book Illustration from Cambridge School of Art. Little Toy Dogs are heavily influenced by the rich history of European toy making and Alice's own heritage, as a descendent of Flemish weavers. She uses vintage mother of pearl shirt buttons on their collars as a reminder of her family history (her grandmother's surname was Shirt!) and takes great pride in continuing this work.

In 2016 Alice was proud to be selected as a member of the British Toy Makers Guild which represents and encourages the highest standards of craftsmanship and design.