Montessori Mother Materials

❝Running your fingers across perfectly sanded wood connects a person to the natural world. There’s something special about the way wood forms into a shape when you carve it and join it and sand it. A great satisfaction in creating a feeling, an emotion that someone else can hold in their hands and learn from or even just as simple as giving a child something shaped perfectly for them to sit on without help and find their own independence.

I grew up in Alaska without any siblings. I spent most of my time playing in the forest where I lived with my mother. The trees were my sanctuary. I dug tunnels under giant roots and climbed high into branches. Being alone in the forest, I found my center. I have done many jobs that have taken me around the world since then, but I have never lost my amazement with forests and mountains and wood. Seeing raw materials and exploring where they grow taught me how to connect with my surroundings. I make the developmental materials and furniture that I do, so that I can give the gift of connection and amazement to the childhoods of future adults. I do this in the hope that whether those children become interplanetary explorers or business people or designers they can still appreciate the value of the natural world around them.

— CHAD CHITTENDEN

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