January 27, 2026
When you’re choosing furniture for your baby or toddler, it’s not just about aesthetics, it’s about what’s safe, what lasts, and what your child will interact with every day. At Love Local, we design each piece with care, and that includes being intentional about the materials we use.
We’re proud to craft with high grade Baltic Birch Plywood (Baltic Birchwood), European Beech, and African Walnut. Three honest, natural wood materials that each bring something different to our work. None is “better” than the other. Instead, each is selected for its purpose, based on how the piece will be used, what it needs to do, and how it fits into your home.
Baltic Birchwood: Strong, Stable and Beautifully Safe
Baltic Birchwood is a hardwood product made by layering thin sheets of birch veneer in alternating directions. This cross-laminated structure gives it impressive strength and stability, making it ideal for baby and toddler furniture that sees daily use.
In our wood studio, we work exclusively with high-grade Baltic Birchwood, carefully selected in different thicknesses depending on the design. You’ll find it in pieces where shape, weight and durability matter most, such as:
- Learning towers
- Toddler tables and chairs
- Lightweight stools, seating and storage
But strength isn’t the only reason we love Baltic Birchwood, it’s also incredibly safe for young children when used and finished properly.
Every component is precision-cut using our in-house CNC machine, allowing for clean shapes, smooth curves and perfectly consistent edges. From there, each piece is hand-sanded and supplied in its natural finish, without paints or harmful treatments, making it safer for little hands and mouths.
Baltic Birchwood’s even surface also allows for durable, easy-to-clean finishes, perfect for toddlers who spill, scribble, chew, and test every boundary.
In short, it’s strong enough to support active play, stable enough to hold its shape, and safe enough to be part of your child’s daily routine.
European Beech: The Hardwood of Heirlooms
When it comes to long-lasting, heirloom-quality furniture, solid European Beech is our go-to. It’s dense, strong, and beautifully grained, a premium hardwood that adds warmth and timeless appeal to your nursery.
We use Beech in pieces like:
- The Legacy Cot
- The Niki Compactum
- Sturdy frames, tops and rails that are meant to last for years
This is the kind of wood you want in a family piece, strong enough to support everyday use, and beautiful enough to pass down.
African Walnut: Rich in Tone and Locally Sourced
We also work with African Walnut (also known as Lovoa), a richly toned hardwood that adds warmth and depth to our furniture. It has a slightly softer feel than Beech, with a flowing grain and natural variation that makes each piece unique.
African Walnut is more than just an accent, it’s a key part of some of our most loved heirloom items, including:
- The Legacy Cot
- The Niki Compactum
- Detailed trims and contrast panels
- Lighter structural elements where strength and softness meet
Its deep brown colouring complements the paler tones of Baltic Birchwood and the firmness of Beech, helping us achieve balanced, timeless designs that feel grounded and refined.
All of our African Walnut is locally sourced and hand-finished in-house, supplied in its natural state without paint or harsh treatments. We use only baby-safe sealers where needed to preserve the wood’s integrity and protect tiny hands. Like every material we choose, African Walnut is selected with purpose, not just for its warm, natural beauty, but for how it performs in real homes with real families..
Safe for Babies: Baltic Birchwood Included
Material choice means nothing if safety isn’t part of the equation. That’s why we apply the same safety standards to Baltic Birchwood as we do to our solid hardwoods.
Our Baltic Birchwood is:
- High-quality Baltic Birchwood, selected for its strength, durability and suitability for indoor, child-safe furniture.
- All pieces are supplied in their natural state, sealed by hand using baby-safe finishes.”
- Finished with water-based, non-toxic sealers
- Sanded and sealed to ensure smooth, splinter-free edges
- Naturally resistant to cracks, chips, and structural weaknesses
This makes it a smart choice for toddler furniture that gets used and climbed on every day.
Just like our plywood pieces, all Beech and Walnut furniture is finished in-house using child-safe materials. No shortcuts. No compromise.
Why We Use All Three
There’s a common misconception that “solid wood” is always better than plywood , or that plywood means cutting corners.
The reality is more nuanced:
- Baltic Birchwood is more dimensionally stable, better for shaping, and ideal in weight-sensitive pieces like toddler chairs.
- Solid Beech offers beauty and lasting strength for heirloom pieces that won’t go out of style.
- African Walnut adds warmth and natural character in all the right places.
Each material has its place in our process. We don’t choose based on trends, we choose based on what’s best for you and your child.
Built for Real Families
Everything we make, whether it’s a Moses basket stand, a toddler tower, or a full nursery setup, is made to fit real life. That means it needs to be:
- Safe for babies
- Beautiful in your space
- Built to last
- Easy to clean
- And a joy to use
By choosing Baltic Birchwood, European Beech, and African Walnut, we’re able to offer you exactly that, not one-size-fits-all furniture, but purpose-built pieces made with the material that suits the job best.
Explore our toddler and nursery furniture, handmade in South Africa using Baltic Birchwood, Beech and Walnut.