Inspired by their son Axel, Lucy Carter and Geoff Linke wanted to give him access to fun, safe toys that positively impacted his development. This led to the idea and creation of Axel Adventures, a family-run online toy store. They are passionate about creating toys that inspire creativity and independent thinking and believe that the best toys are ones that inspire kids to try new things, play new parts, and make-believe in worlds they create. All of their toys encourage unstructured play, creative development and enhanced imagination through exploration and adventure. Here they talk to The Natural Parent Magazine about the passion behind their business, the challenges they have overcome, and their hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
Our young toddler son, Axel, reminded us of the relevance and importance of the right toys and games for the educational, physical and mental development of toddlers-preschoolers. We knew this would be a lasting source of motivation and satisfaction for us as the business grew.
We have established a family-run toy store that offers kids a gateway into the impossible, where imagination, creativity, and joy run free. All of our toys encourage unstructured play, creative development, and enhanced imagination through exploration and adventure!
Research shows that learning through play is an important part of a child’s development, even from infancy. Ensuring that every child has time to play helps release extra energy, enhance their view of the world, and strengthen their self-awareness. It’s through play that we learn about ourselves, and how to relate to the world, never forgetting that toys are about having fun!
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
We believe the best toys are ones that inspire kids to try new things, play new parts, and “make-believe” in worlds they create, that are all their own. With countless ways to play, our toys are interactive fun for the whole family and can be used in a myriad of methods. We started with this philosophy in mind.
Axel Adventures was founded in 2018 by us – Lucy and Geoff, after the birth of our son Axel. We wanted Axel to have access to fun, safe toys that positively impacted his development, which led to the idea and creation of Axel Adventures Toys.
Although Axel Adventures is an Australian-based company, we want to make a global impact and create toys for kids everywhere.
First, we focused our distribution efforts on the Australian and North American markets, but we have hopes to further our distribution reach in the coming years.
Safety and quality are the cornerstones of all our products as we are protective parents who want only the best for our kids. Our trusted research and production partners share this mission.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
Our first sales platform was not as successful as we would have liked. Instead of thinking, “well maybe we can’t do this, maybe we don’t know how”, we took the path of taking the learnings from that. We refocused on a few alternate platforms, taking more control of our business, targeting the right people for advice, and in parallel strengthening our toy product range.
It wasn’t one sole thing, but rather a decision that we had built up a lot of intellectual capital and an emerging toy brand that had started to carry real value, so let’s not waste that.
