This rocking horse was built as a first birthday gift for my nephew, and it was something near and dear to my heart. A first birthday only comes once, and I wanted to mark it with something that would still mean something decades from now, long after he has outgrown it.

Twelve species of wood went into the build, sourced from three different countries. Bubinga, Wenge, Zebrawood, Padauk, Purpleheart, Yellowheart, Canary Wood, Black Limba, Walnut, Maple, White Oak, and Cherry all appear somewhere on this horse, and every one of them was chosen for its natural color and grain. Nothing here was dyed or stained. If a certain tone or figure was needed, I went looking until I found the species that already had it, rather than force the wood to be something it was not.

The mane and tail were built by laminating different woods together in thin layers, giving them a more expressive, almost sculptural look that no single species could have achieved on its own. It felt right that the wildest part of the horse should be made from the widest mix of wood.

Getting the proportions, joinery, and curves right took a long run of custom jigs and a lot of trial and error. There were plenty of quiet nights spent tinkering, taking a piece apart and starting again, before it finally came together the way I had pictured it in my head.

At the end of it all, this is not just a toy. It is a piece built to be passed down, ridden, admired, and eventually handed to the next generation of this family, carrying a little piece of this first birthday with it every time.