My hometown, Kitchener, Ontario, has an annual Christmas market over the first weekend of December. Because of the city’s German heritage, they call it a Christkindl Market. You definitely find kitch there, but you also find legitimate handicrafts for sale. I wanted to highlight Peter Gordon, who does woodworking out of his shop in Brampton, Ontario.
The reason why so much is sourced out to China these days is because of cost. If you were to buy anything handmade these days, you’d have to pay a fortune for it simply because the artist also needs to live and would charge an amount commensurate with her years of experience and level of skill. I recently started crocheting quick scrubbies from an interesting yarn that actually scrubs (more on that next week). The materials are cheap (about 20 cents per scrubby), but they still take me about an hour to make. There’s no way I could make a living charging $5 per scrubby (unless my crocheting speed greatly increased and I could at least make three in an hour).
So when my husband and I came across Peter Gordon’s stand at the Christkindl Market, we were stunned: handmade wooden toy vehicles for roughly $3.50 – $35 or so. He also offered a few items that cost more, but everything else generally fell into that price range. We loaded up. The dinky cars we bought, for example, were simple in design, yet the kids loved them. My boys are too young to care about all the details of a random Porsche. They just want cars that they can zip down their race track, and these wooden toy cars fit the bill.
My husband had a chance to drop by Peter’s workshop in Brampton, Ontario. I don’t want to repeat all of the conversation online here, but my husband was really impressed. I believe that part of Peter’s secret is simplicity: as I said, my kids don’t need loads of detail. And the last thing they need is cheap, plastic toys that break easily and land in a landfill. These simple, inexpensive, locally made toys fit the bill.
Hi Lori, any chance of sharing his details!
Definitely! I’ll email you.
Hi Lori
May I also have his details too. Thanks, Jo
Of course! I’ll email them to you.
Hi Lori,
May I have his details as well. Thank you! Melissa
They’re on their way to your inbox!
Hi Lori, I managed to get in touch with Peter and also saw him at the show. He mentioned you as well. Thought you might like to know. Thanks for the great contact.
Thanks for letting me know. Just so anyone who reads this is clear, I didn’t know him before other than buy a ton of wooden toy cars from him last year. My husband stopped by his workshop during the year as part of his job, and then we saw Peter again this year at the market. He gave me a little wooden toy boat that does indeed float in the bathtub as a thank you 🙂 I’ll write about it in my next post or two, though it’ll be after the Christmas shopping spree.
Interested in one of Peter’s toys – would love to contact him regarding where to purchase. Do you have contact information you could share?
Hi Leslie,
I’ll email you his phone number right away.
Hi, I know this is an old post but I’ve been trying to find this guy for a while now. I bought something from him a few years ago and wanted to get more. Do you still have his contact information?
No worries, Monique. If you do contact him, he’ll be glad to know the post is still bringing him business 🙂 His phone number is (905) 453-5678. I’ll email you his email address: I don’t want to increase his spam by posting it here.
Hi Lori
I was just at the market with my kids and have purchased things from Peter before. I didn’t get a chance to grab his info. Can you share it with me? Thanks
Vera
Done 🙂 Check your spam/junk folder if you don’t see anything in your main inbox.
Hello Lori,
Thank you for highlighting a local artist! Could you send me his contact details as well?
Much appreciated,
Kirti
Done! Please check your spam/junk/promo folder if you haven’t seen an email from me yet.