We are still in awe of all the exciting and innovative brands we met at the summer shows in Paris and New York, and simply can't wait till next season to introduce you to them. While at Playtime & Kid's Hub New York, we interviewed Laura and Andres from the adorable Colombian brand, Teeny Tiny Market. It was such a treat to meet them, so just in case you didn't get the chance to, let us present their amazing vision to you!

Grab your frying pan and let's get cooking!

Can you please introduce yourselves and your brand?
Laura: My name is Laura and I am the owner of Teeny Tiny Market. It is a market to play, to be happy with the kids, and to have a lot of experiences.

Andres: And my name is Andres, I'm also part of the Teeny Tiny Market! This is a Colombian brand and we create toys that are inspired by real food.

Can you please tell us a bit about where your inspiration comes from and how you design the collections?
Laura: Our inspiration comes from our daughters. We started our brand four years ago, and now we are here at Playtime & Kid's Hub New York to show you the results of this long and beautiful journey full of experiments and new designs.

Andres: We found that a huge challenge, both as parents and in the kids' market, is that it’s pretty hard to go against technology. A toy vs an iPad is a very hard competition when you're trying to get the attention of children. So we understood that we needed to create something that offers value to kids, and we started thinking of that in terms of our own daughters. We found that the strongest tool against technology was to create this brand specifically based on reality. We wanted kids to have some experience with food in toys that are safe and realistic. Our daughters would describe the way we cook and were interested in what we were doing, so we designed these toys for them so they can go and see how to do it too. Our toys allow kids to explore cooking and creativity, to experiment with food in a safe and fun way.

Do you have any favorite pieces in your collection you’d like to share with us?
Laura: I love the sushi roll, it's my favorite! You can take the knife and slice the sushi because it’s magnetic, making it super realistic. It also comes with a fish that kids can play with that is raw on one side and cooked on the other, so they can play with it and, like in real life, it can change and become cooked.

Andres: The thing that I really like most about our brand is that we give a really big significance to every detail, especially to the names of our products. For example, this toy is called “Rice to Meet You.” All of the products have names like that, so we really try to get some specific and playful names for all of the toys. We find that they’re unique, both the toys and the names, and so we love that. This brand, it's more than a toy brand. We try to give parents and kids something to do together. The toys are also completely eco-friendly, they are made with vegan leathers, they use safe and friendly inks that don't have any contamination, we don’t use plastic. For our packaging we use compostable materials, and we have reusable bags that kids can use however they like: they can take them to school, the grocery store, or anywhere they want. We want to not only make a toy, but also make a concept that you can play while still being friendly to the earth.

What did you think about your first experience at Playtime & Kid's Hub New York?
Laura: The experience at Playtime & Kid's Hub New York has been awesome! We have made a lot of contacts and gotten to meet a lot of people. They have really responded to our brand and are loving the toys, which makes us so happy!

Andres: That’s exactly what I found as well, the thing that I like to watch is how much people really like and love our brand. We, of course, love the brand, so seeing that others do too, it’s awesome for us.

Our season's theme this summer was BREATHE. Where do you like to go for a breath of fresh air?
Laura: I love our farm! We have a farm in Columbia and I love being surrounded by all the green, I love my horses, I love the open space.

Andres: Same for me! When you live in a big city, you have to find some places where you can disconnect from what we call “real life.” Going there and just staying with our daughters, with our three dogs, just going and enjoying this part of life is such a good way to spend some time as a family. It's hard sometimes to find a good moment to go, but its great for us to go there and get a breath of fresh air.

We don't know about you, but we're hungry after looking at all of this adorable food! Thank you so much to Laura and Andres for taking the time to speak with us at Playtime & Kid's Hub New York, we loved meeting you and discovering your brand!
Watch their full interview here!

Be sure to stay tuned on the Playtime Magazine to keep meeting brands from the shows!