Artist finds success in Aboriginal toys

BANNOCKBURN artist and teacher duo, Shu and Casey Brown create Aboriginal inspired early educational resources for childcare centres and homes all around the country.

With the aim of sparking an interest in Aboriginal teaching and learning, both within the classroom and at home, Mr Brown retails his designs through his Nunga Creations website and Facebook page.

As parents to four children and experience within the early childhood education sector, the Mr Brown said him and his wife had discovered a gap in the resource market.

“My wife is a kindergarten teacher and she started taking things I had been making at home, little paintings or didgeridoos, or would get me to come in and paint or boomerang with the kids,” he said.

“We noticed there weren’t much of these kinds of resources for the kids to use.

“I first designed the wooden snakes and ladders boards and it incorporated Aboriginal colours and signs, symbols and animal tracks which you could talk the kids through as they played along.”

Although the children enjoyed playing with the snakes and ladders board, they also wanted to create a signature doll that would represent Aboriginal culture and could be played with by anyone.

As an experienced artist and designer, Mr Brown said he decided to create wooden dolls that would be non-binary and faceless dressed in a colourful uniform to give it some personality.

“We wanted to incorporate Aboriginal design into the dolls so we found some Aboriginal fabric and tacked that on there,” he said.

“The fabric we use is just offcuts from Aboriginal designers which were full of bright colours and Aboriginal signs and symbols that the kids had already seen before.

“We encouraged the kids to play with them in outdoor settings, with rocks and sticks and other things to connect culture to land through play.”

Through some social media exposure, Mr Brown said people started inquiring about buying the dolls for their families and home.

“The dolls were something that people started wanting themselves, especially Aboriginal families who wanted them to represent them,” he said.

“That market changed from education to everyday families so now we sell them in a set of two adults and two children.

“It’s not just great for the education system but it’s great to see people have them at home to represent their families while promoting Aboriginal culture in a subtle way.”

From their humble beginnings at Bannockburn childcare centres, Nunga Creations has grown in demand and surpassed its initial purpose.

Selling to families and centres nation-wide and even beyond, Mr Brown said he couldn’t believe the success of the dolls.

“It’s the most positive thing that has happened during this time with COVID-19, that we can create a product that people actually want and really like, the positive feedback about people’s personal connections is great,” he said.

“We restocked at the start of August and we sold 175 families in 13 minutes, it was crazy.

“It’s great that people can continue to support local, small and Aboriginal business, especially at this time.”

To learn more about Nunga Creations and purchase a resource, visit nungacreations.com.