Birnbaum Designs was created by us, Carl and Tara, inspired by our little boy Kai. As new parents, we found we were thrown into the deep end of a whirlwind of unknown. No matter what we read and researched before becoming parents, nothing really prepared us for what was to come. The all-encompassing love for Kai, our little bundle of energetic joy and of course… the exhaustion too!

When trying to prepare our space for Kai’s arrival, we struggled through a world of heavy marketing with so many products and choices. It was completely overwhelming! A lot of the products out there were just not made with care. So, we decided “let’s just make them ourselves”. So we did!

Carl, a qualified industrial designer can pretty much make just about anything he sets his mind to. He is super creative and very eco-conscious, especially when it comes to our boy. When designing something for Kai, he knows that it is probably going to end up in his mouth so he chooses materials which Kai can chew and suck on to his heart’s content. His focus with Kai’s furniture and toys is to make them fun, functional, visually appealing and of course durable. After all, what if we decide to have another little bundle of smiles?

Tara has a background in Human Resources and General Management. Her interest in people and HR has evolved into a deep fascination in baby’s development and all things mom. Becoming a mother is very transformative, beautiful and overwhelming all in one. Once Carl has come up with a design, Tara inputs small changes or additions and together the final product is formed. Tara also focuses on keeping things running smoothly in the background… with little Kai to help of course!

Kai is our little prototype tester. Once our designs are finalized they go into the prototype phase for Kai to explore till his hearts content. Everything must pass the “Kai test” before going into final production.