|
|
 |
| |
Martin Silver with one of his pieces that is up for sale |
‘Geppetto’! – Martin carves out new career
IT could be a scene taken straight from the classic Italian children’s story Pinocchio.
Retired rag and bone man Martin Silver has been hand-crafting traditional wooden toys in his boat workshop in Camley Street for the past 15 years – and now the real life Geppetto has opened his own toy shop just around the corner in St Pancras Road.
The 79-year-old, who lives in Prince Albert Road, Regent’s Park, has decided to put this work up for sale for the first time.
He said: “All I had was a hoop and a stick and a top when I was a child. And we used to play with ‘alleys’ [marbles]. It was all very old-fashioned.
“I think some of the new toys in the shops are really wonderful. But a lot of them are electronic these days – I suppose I’m a bit of a dinosaur.”
Mr Silver’s toys – including rocking animals, cars and planes – have been carved from cedar, oak and mahogany bought from sustainable wood farms.
He learned his craft in a textiles factory in Nottingham after he was evacuated there from the East End during the Second World War. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
