Ellipso By NaefUSA




Ellipso was designed by Xavier De Clippelier in 1983. This neat handmade toy is made by Swiss master craftsman using only heartwood maple because of its ability to maintain its strength and not warp or distort over time. Maintaining tolerances within 1/100 of an inch over the life of the piece is a typical benchmark for our craftsman. The construction of the toy is a wonder of 12 elliptic parts which are seamlessly hand joined, allowing continuous movement. It's beautiful design will give adults and children the chance to discover a plethora wonderful shapes and forms by twisting and turning the linked structure.


Now here is a little background on this great and modern production company. The Naef company was founded in 1956 by the master carpenter/toy maker Kurt Naef.  Keeping with tradition, Naef is still family owned/operated and all parts of production process (from the carpentry and painting/lacquering to the boxing and labeling) are done in Switzerland. The Naef company has worked hard to keep the company small (Less than 20 employees world wide), production numbers exclusive (only a limited number of Naef products are released outside of Switzerland every year) and our the quality of craft as high as humanly possible (many tolerances used are consisted to those used in the automobile industry). NaefUSA is the sole importer and distributor for Naef products in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Via Design Don't Panic.

-priscilla giler

Joel is a contributor on Design-Milk's weekly architectural posts and Apartment Therapy's Unplggd daily technology posts.