Our story
Made by Ernest. Played with by Otter.
Two halves of the same object.
Ernest
A Victorian first name that means, quite literally, serious. It sounds like a workshop. It is the wood, the hinge, the joint that holds. It is the half of this company that cares whether the door still shuts properly in four years.
Otter
One of the few animals that plays its entire life, not only when young. It uses tools. It holds another's paw so it does not drift while it sleeps. It is native to British rivers, and its return to them is one of the few conservation stories in this country that ended well.
It is the half of this company that remembers who any of this is actually for.
A thing made seriously, for something that is not serious at all.
What we believe
That a play kitchen is not a toy. It is a piece of furniture that happens to be three feet tall.
Between eighteen months and seven years it is used more than almost anything else in the house. It stands in the room where you have people over. It is in the background of five years of photographs. An object doing that job deserves to be chosen properly.
So it is built the other way round: designed as a piece of furniture first, then made playable. That single decision shows up in the weight, the palette and the price.
What we will not do
No batteries, no speakers, no flashing lights. A child supplies the sound effects, and always has.
No licensed characters.
No permanent strikethrough, no countdown clocks, no flash sales. How we set our prices is on our pricing page.
What we will do
Answer the phone.
And choose it so that the next child gets it, and the child after that.
How we actually work
We are a small company, not a factory. We do not own a workshop and we do not pretend to. Our pieces are produced by manufacturing partners and reach you through our supply chain, which is why delivery takes 4 to 8 working days rather than two.
What we do is choose what we sell, stand behind it, and answer for it when something is wrong.
Ernest & Otter is a trading name of ELYSIUM SERVICES LLC, 30 North Gould Street, Ste R, Sheridan, WY 82801, United States. You can reach a person at contact@ernestotter.com or on +33 6 37 24 99 47.
One child, then the next, then the neighbours' two.