Popsy Wood Figure by Pepe Hiller

Later today, Dust Catcher Magazine will release this 1-off Popsy wood figure by Pepe Hiller. This delicious looking wooden ice cream popsicle is being released to commemorate Dust Catcher Magazine’s first issue and its interview with the acclaimed Swiss wood toy maker. Popsy is 6” tall, made from beech, maple, and stapele woods, and features a brass hanging keyhole on its back perfect for mounting this fun wooden figure to your wall.

The Popsy Wood Figure by Pepe Hiller goes on sale at 11am EST today, Thursday, March 9th, at the Dust Catcher Magazine online store for €110.

Droppling Wood Figures by Pepe Hiller

On Wednesday, July 13th, Pepe Hiller will release his newest adorable wooden creatures, the Dropplings! Each 3.5” wood toy is hand crafted out of different swiss woods like cherrywood, wild service wood, beechwood and smoked oak wood, and features a hidden brass lock mechanism inside its body. With the help of a special key it's possible to turn their faces in different directions. The legs of the figures are also separate pieces that can be shifted along a slot underneath the body. These features allows you to arrange your Droppling in multiple positions.

Did you ever see a Droppling standing stock-still? As everybody knows DROPPLING's can't stand still and love to wiggle all day long. They try hard to keep things calm but usually this doesn't last long... they are just too lively! Well there is one way to keep them in check, by stealing their heart key, but this would be mean so let's not do such things.

Each Droppling comes signed and numbered by the artist. The signature is iron branded, while the serial numbers are embossed on their back. Limited to just 18 pieces, collectors can pick one up at 4pm EST at Pepe Hiller’s online store.

KOR Wooden Warrior Figure by Pepe Hiller

Yesterday, Pepe Hiller unleashed his newest wooden creation KOR upon the world! This good natured warrior has been serving his tribe and king for two hundred twenty-one summers and not once has KOR let a foe pass into their village. KOR loves riddles and has a great sense of humor, especially when it comes to making fun of the tribe on the other side of the gray cliffs.

KOR's body is handcrafted out of an oak wood log that is over 200 years old, while his head and horns are made out of teak and smoked oak wood. To defend his tribe, KOR holds a carefully forged brass broadsword covered with an ancient patina. His arms are articulated and feature multiple solid brass and natural leather parts. Limited to just 10 pieces, each 3.5” figure features a semi-gloss finish thru oil and wax and comes signed and numbered by the artist. Pick one up today at Pepe Hiller's online store for $120 each.

ZARO & Woodhearts Wood Figures by Pepe Hiller

Earlier this week Pepe Hiller released two awesome new wooden figures at his online store that The Blot knows you’ll want to check out! First up are the adorable ZARO wood sprites that just love to hug everyone that passes by. The larger ones are 4.5” tall and the little ones are 3”, and they feature solid brass arms and come in three different kind of solid wood: Alder (light brownish), Sapele (reddish brown) and Smoked Oak (dark brownish). These figures are stackable, so if you get a pair they will have even more fun on your shelf! For each colorway Pepe has crafted three 4.5” and three 3” figures for 18 pieces in all. Each figure comes signed, numbered, and oiled and waxed with a beeswax finish.

Pepe’s second release are these super cute Woodhearts 1” wooden magnets! These killer handcrafted fridge magnets are iron-branded and have a strong magnet inlayed on their backside that will hold your notes tight. Sold in sets of two, each pair contains one maple wood magnet and one sapele wood magnet with a high gloss finish. Limited to just 25 sets, these will make perfect gifts this holiday season!

PIDA & OLGOS Wood Figures by Pepe Hiller

It’s the end of the month, which means new wooden toys from Pepe Hiller! For October, Pepe has two awesome new releases dropping at his online store. First up is PIDA, a one of a kind 4.5” wood figure carved out of a piece of sapele wood. PIDA is a curly little lady that lives in the botanical garden where she keeps an eye to the frogs. She learned from them to jump from water lily leaf to another and her guilty pleasure is to eat duckweed sprouts. This figure has a high gloss coat, comes signed and numbered by the artist (embossed) and will retail for $140.

Pepe’s second release is OLGOS, a pair of wooden figures that stand 2” and 3” tall. OLGOS are sturdy little chaps that travel huge distances over snowy mountains and endless tundra to find a nice little spot where they can rest and eat fresh grass. The OLGOS are handcrafted out of swiss spruce and feature a high gloss finish. Limited to just 12 pairs, each piece comes signed and numbered by the artist (embossed) and retails for $80.

RAKU Wood Figure by Pepe Hiller

The Blot got some exciting news yesterday, Pepe Hiller and his wonderful wood toys are back! After a way too long hiatus, Pepe is back with an all new figure named RAKU! This wooden samurai stands 5” tall, includes a seriously wicked wooden sword and is limited to just 5 pieces. Collectors looking for an awesome handmade new figure need to visit Pepe’s online store this Wednesday, September 30th, at 4pm EST to pick up their very own RAKU for $120!

RAKU is handcrafted out of alder, walnut and smoked oak wood and has a small brass hearth on his chest. Each figure features a sword out of beautiful grained wenge wood with brass parts and a dark leather handle. The figure has a semi gloss finish and comes signed and numbered by the artist (embossed).

“RAKU appreciates the various moods and sentiments suggested by the snow, the moon, and the trees and flowers, as he goes through the transformation of seasons, appearing and disappearing, blooming and withering. If RAKU uses his sword, he makes it serve to give life to others. And while he has fought on many battlefields, his true passion and mastery is brewing the finest and most delicious tea in all the seven woods. You can watch him listen quietly to the boiling water in the kettle, which sounds like a breeze passing through the pine needles. Legend has it that if you drink a bowl of tea with RAKU you will become oblivious of all worldly woes and worries.”

Lunabee x Pepe Hiller Woodbees

Oh man, how beautiful are these Woodbees from UK artist Lunabee and Swiss artist Pepe Hiller (of Smallstuff Studios)!?! Each hand carved wooden bees were created by Pepe in Switzerland and then shipped over to Lunabee to be painted in her unique style. Ten Woodbees were created in all, 9 smaller worker bees (2.5” in length) and one large queen bee (3.5" in length).

The Blot can’t truly express how much I love this release. Pepe’s woodworking skills are amazing, and each Woodbee really comes alive after Lunabee has worked her magic with them. Sadly, these will be the only wood bees ever created. This is truly a one off collaboration (with no future series planned), so if you ever want to get your hands on one of these wooden delights you’d better do it when they are released this Thursday!

These Lunabee x Pepe Hiller Woodbees will be released in two waves: the first 5 worker bees go on sale this Thursday, May 10th, at 7pm London time at Lunabee’s online store. The remaining 4 worker bees and the queen bee go on sale Thursday, May 17th, at the same time and the same place. Each worker bee will retail for $99 each, while the queen bee will sell for $149.

Cris Rose x Pepe Arborobots Wood Bots

Ramble and Roam, the first two Arborobots by London Artist Cris Rose and Zurich Artist Pepe of Smallstuff Studios, are finally here!!! Ramble is the larger character, a robot grown from wood that feels he is missing something in his big hollow tummy. Coming in single and two-eyed variants, he has thoughts on what he might desire and looks to seek them out. Roam is the smaller chap, keen to help out and particularly good at finding lost things. With one big brass eye, he holds his find aloft and shuffles along as quickly as he can manage. And last but not least there is a single painted "Turquoise Driftwood" Ramble, crafted by Pepe and painted by Cris Rose.

The initial release of this pair will include Roam and two-eyed Ramble in walnut and cherry. There will be three 2 packs that include both figures and a camera accessory ($175), as well as 2 Roam ($60) and 2 Ramble ($150) figures sold individually. The one of a kind Turquoise Driftwood Ramble will retail for $225. These go on sale tomorrow at 6pm London time, but act fast because these will sell out incredibly quickly.

Cris Rose x Pepe Arborobots Teaser Image

The Blot just found out about an exciting new collaboration between resin toy designer Cris Rose and the woodworking master Pepe of Smallstuff Studios, and couldn’t wait for the final reveal to blog about it. The artists’ Arborobots Series (pronounced “Are-Bore-O-Bots”) is a new line of figures designed in London and hand crafted in Zurich, giving this release a truly worldly feel! It also means numbers for this series will be extremely limited. It is worth noting that these new Arborobots will NOT be made from resin, so might we be seeing the world’s first wooden robots? The first release will be a set of two robots that work together, reflecting the collaborative nature of this endeavor.

Arborobots Official Backstory Part 1 of 2: “In an attempt to increase robot production and improve computational power, the research and development team at Omega Tellurion made an international request for anyone with new ideas and techniques. Among the flood of bizarre and inane suggestions from the general public, there was single proposal that stood out… at least in so far as it was the only submitted on handmade paper. Before the thick tome was even opened, it had garnered significant interest as it appeared that the hard cover and thin leaves of paper had not been bound, but were of one continuous form. The engraving on the front was also of an unknown method. While it seemed to be a finely etched hardwood, under picometer wave inferascope analysis it was clear that each cell and fibre was perfectly aligned and undamaged. Even the colouring on the pages were found to be pigments within the cells themselves, purposefully aligned to produce extremely high resolution text and vivid full colour images.

The contents of this highly unique book left the team of scientists puzzled and bemused. Expecting the language of technology and manufacture, this text read more like a gardeners handbook with a heavy dose of genetics. Having no specialists in either field, a request was made for the gentleman responsible for this submission to make a personal visit to the research lab at Omega Moonbase. In reply came a counter-invitation to visit a more terrestrial location. Switzerland.

Along with England and Norway, Switzerland was one of the few countries to insist on retaining their national identity long after most that had joined the Global Harmonious Republic had allowed their boarders to be dissolved. The destination was accessible only by air – a remote mountain valley deep within the largest of those national forests that had been re-established a century or so prior. No sooner had they set foot on the deep, lush grass, then they were greeted by a soft spoken man named Pepe.”

WOODSPRITES 4" Wood Figures by Pepe

Thanks to Twitter, The Blot’s been able to learn about some really great artists I might not have been able to before. One of those very talented people is swiss designer Pepe and his Smallstuff Studio. Pepe does some incredible things with wood, including these 4” wood figures. WOODSPRITES are handcrafted by Pepe out of Sapele and Maple wood, and each sprite is unique in its shape and wood texture. So every WoodSprite is a true one of a kind figure!

This limited edition release includes 12 WOODSPRITES figures. Each has a natural beewax finish, an iron-branding on its backside with the artist’s signature, and is individually numbered on the bottom. These awesome wood figures will go on sale at the Smallstuff online store today, Monday, February 7th, at 19:00 CET. Each figure retails for $50 each.