selvaro: Montessori-Style Kids' Furniture, No Tools Needed

Friends, my youngest turns three in February and, brace yourselves, he still doesn't have his own room or his own furniture. We have a guest room/office with a big bed where he sleeps (along with one of us parents most nights, because he's just a restless sleeper), and his toys are scattered across the living room and his siblings' rooms. His siblings are getting more and more annoyed by that (understandably, since half his toys go wee-ooo, wee-ooo), and it's high time he got a room of his own, so we're back to shopping for kids' furniture.

Sure, we still have a few things in the basement or are getting hand-me-downs from friends and relatives, but some pieces have to be bought new. What matters to us is that the design is as simple as possible, so it isn't tied to some trend we'll be sick of in two years. And of course the materials and quality should be top-notch, so we can take things apart and put them back together more than once and, when our kid outgrows them, easily "pass them down" to someone else.

While we were researching, the people behind selvaro happened to reach out to us. selvaro stands for high-quality, functional, stylish kids' furniture, and there aren't hundreds of products made somehow, somewhere. So far selvaro offers two gorgeous shelves, a bookshelf and a floor-level toy shelf, plus a stool. The pieces are durable and totally kid-friendly. selvaro is working on new pieces, so it's absolutely worth following the brand on Instagram.

So if you're also looking for special pieces, we can wholeheartedly recommend selvaro. Especially now, with the holiday season around the corner and lots of grandparents asking what they should give, this would make a great group gift that you'll enjoy for a long time. We've pulled together everything about selvaro in this interview with the founders.

There's so much kids' furniture out there. What makes selvaro different?

When we became parents for the first time almost two years ago and started looking for kids' furniture, we filtered the huge selection by what mattered to us: natural materials, kid-friendly design (inspired by Montessori), durability, and a timeless look that fits in our own home. And at the end, there really wasn't much left.

While searching, we quickly noticed that a lot of it looks kind of the same. Often the products come from the same sources, the same wholesalers or manufacturers overseas, just with a different logo on them. So together with a furniture designer (a dad of two himself), we started designing something all our own, based on what we were missing ourselves.

What was most important to you?

Our furniture shouldn't be loud or totally cluttered. It should feel calm and clear. It's built at kids' eye level, ideally grows with them, and invites them to explore on their own, in keeping with Montessori principles.

And we didn't want assembly to end in a meltdown. We've always been fascinated by traditional woodworking joints, and we brought that idea to our selvaro pieces. They go together in just a few steps without screws or tools, and as often as you need (say, when you move), without losing any stability.

We know there are other makers who offer great kids' furniture, and that's totally fine. We're mainly speaking to parents who think the way we do: parents who meet their kids at eye level, value naturalness, and want to create spaces where kids are free to explore on their own. That's who we make selvaro for.

Can you explain again what's behind the Montessori furniture approach? How do kids benefit in everyday life? 

Maria Montessori was a physician and educator who recognized early on that children learn best when they get to take the lead: on their own initiative, at their own pace, and with things they can actually get their hands on. She observed that children have a natural need for order, independence, and movement, and that they grow when you create an environment that makes exactly that possible. She's also the source of the well-known quote, "Help me to do it myself."

For us, Montessori isn't a rigid method but more of an attitude: respect for the child, trust in their abilities, and the freedom to learn from their own experiences, even when something goes wrong now and then. We're not educators, and we don't live it strictly "by the book." We let these basic ideas guide us in everyday life, and we learn from our daughter every day.

Our furniture is ultimately just a small part of that. It's meant to help kids reach things on their own and encourage them to explore and get active on their own initiative, in other words, to create a suitable environment.

Let's talk sustainability: Where is your furniture made?

Our kids' furniture is made in a small workshop in Germany, with a lot of handwork and in small batches instead of mass production. That means shorter shipping distances, fair pay, and money that stays in the local economy. The wood comes from sustainably managed European forests (PEFC). We deliberately skip chemical lacquers, and on request, our furniture is finished with natural linseed oil.

What feeling should your furniture bring into a kid's room?

We want kids to feel: I can, and I'm allowed to, discover, try things out, and figure them out myself.