Local residents make toys out of sustainable materials
After Steve and Kristin Rho became parents in 2011, they did what many parents do.
The Glendale couple bought their first daughter, and later their second daughter, plastic toys that, over time, were discarded and replaced with other toys. However, that left the Rhos pondering about the impact of all that quickly-used plastic.
For the record:
12:45 p.m. April 23, 2024A previous version of this article stated Earthtiles are built in an Indonesian factory. The toys will soon be built by an overseas toy manufacturer.
“As we dug in a little bit more, we realized all these petroleum-based plastic toys our kids are playing with over a short amount of time end up in the garbage,” Steve Rho said. “It seemed really incongruent to us that you give your kid a toy … and simultaneously you’re harming the environment that they’re going to grow up in.”
They figured there was a better way.
Fast forward to about a year and a half ago, when the Rhos began creating a sustainable toy.
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The result, which debuted Saturday, Earth Day, is Big Future Toys, a business based out of their Riverside Rancho home. The company makes Earthtiles — wooden magnetic pieces that attach to one another and can be assembled to make houses, rockets and pretty much anything else children can dream up.
Earthtiles are made of Baltic birch wood, which is harvested from managed forests in the Baltic region. Though the initial tiles were handmade by the Rhos, they will soon be built by an overseas toy manufacturer. They come in two shapes: squares and equilateral triangles.
Big Future is certainly a different kind of endeavor for the Rhos, who have lived in Glendale for two years. Steve Rho, a Navy veteran, is a tech consultant who works on app development. Kristin Rho is a communications specialist.
“It’s pretty rewarding to build things you can see and hold,” Steve said.
Steve Rho said that his father, a math teacher with a degree in civil engineering, might have inspired him to create his own building toys such as the Legos, K’Nex and wooden blocks he fiddled with as a child.
“I think we absorbed a lot of building mentality from him at a very young age,” Steve said.
The Rho daughters, ages 3 and 5, are fans of Earthtiles. They’ve even discovered how their magnetism allows them to display their creations on the house refrigerator. And, as kin to Big Future’s founders, they’ve gotten exclusive sneak peeks.
“They’ve been pretty good test subjects,” Steve Rho said.
Twitter: @BradleyZint
