Woodland Creatures & Bucker wooden board puzzle by Merchants Row. Images courtesy of Merchants Row.

We stumbled across a great find recently – a collection of beautifully designed, wooden toys and games, crafted under the name Merchants Row.

Maker, Mark Marchesi produces all the items himself, in small quantities to order. His range currently includes wooden board puzzles, a Gulf of Maine Wooden Memory Tiles set, an impressive logging truck, and Paulownia wood, body surfing hand boards.

Stroudwater Falls: Portland, Maine. Photo: © 2011 Mark Marchesi.

When we spoke to Mark last week he shared his story of how Merchants Row came to be.

“My artistic background of study is in photography, but I’ve always enjoyed working with wood. I was driving back from dropping off a print at CMCA in Rockport for an exhibition last fall when the idea for the Maine Counties wooden puzzle just came to me… I got right to work designing and making the first one. It kind of snowballed from there – my intention being to create educational, long lasting toys, made from sustainable material, that also looked good.”

“By Christmas 2010 I had a small collection of wood products which I started peddling at craft fairs, and small local shops. I focused on maritime imagery at first, but am now expanding to portray other industries, most recently logging,” Mark says.

FV Meridian, Wrights Wharf. Photo: © 2011 Mark Marchesi.

After taking a look at Mark’s photographic work we noticed several of his toy designs borrowed image references from his home state of Maine.

“Maine does greatly influence the imagery in the collection. In the US, some states have stronger identities than others, and Maine is one of those places. I started playing off of the themes of commercial fishing and logging partly because I am personally infatuated with both industries, and partly because they are representative of Maine’s popular identity.

“Without fully intending to do so, it looks like I’ve created a sort of homage to labor and industry in Maine – which I guess is similar to what I’ve been doing with photography as well.”

Georges Bank Cod & Doryman wooden board puzzle by Merchants Row. Images courtesy of Merchants Row.

Purchase Merchants Row products online or visit the main website for a list of retail locations.