Where It All Started

Hello, I'm Zora, the heart and hands behind Batang Kahoy.

 

Before becoming a full-time toy maker, I spent years as a teacher. If someone had told me back then that I'd one day trade my classroom for a small workshop filled with wood shavings, paintbrushes, and tiny wooden figures, I probably wouldn't have believed them.

Batang Kahoy wasn't born from a business plan. 

I was simply a mother looking for wooden figures for my daughter.

Not just any figures, but little people that looked as though they had wandered out of the pages of a beautifully illustrated storybook. Characters with quiet expressions, timeless clothing, and just enough detail to spark a child's imagination without telling the whole story for them.

I searched for months.

I found beautiful toys.

I found well-made toys.

But I never found those toys.

The ones I had imagined.

So I stopped searching and started sketching. Instead of waiting for someone else to create them, I decided to learn how.

The truth is, I had no formal education in art, illustration, design, or woodworking. 

Everything I know today has been learned through curiosity, and countless hours of self-study. I spent late nights reading blogs, watching YouTube tutorials, learning color theory, practicing color mixing, experimenting with simple pattern making, researching child-safe materials, and trying to understand every step of the process that would eventually become Batang Kahoy.

There were hundreds of trials and errors.

Paint combinations that didn't work.

Designs that looked beautiful on paper but not on wood.

Pieces that cracked, warped, or never made it beyond our workshop.

In 2021, Batang Kahoy quietly began in a small workshop in the Philippines with only a handful of supporters. I never imagined that our little wooden figures would one day find homes with families across the world.

Although we've grown, the heart behind Batang Kahoy remains exactly the same. We continue to create in small batches because I believe beautiful craftsmanship takes time. Every figure still begins with a sketch, is carefully handcrafted, and is made with the same love and intention that inspired the very first toy I made for my daughter.

To me, Batang Kahoy has never been about making the most toys. It's about bringing storybook characters to life, invite children to slow down, imagine freely, and tell stories that are entirely their own.