Toys rescued from the past

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António Fachina António Fachina António Fachina António Fachina António Fachina
41.09739998551098
-7.812502050445573

Toys rescued from the past

They don’t flash, they’re not battery-powered, they don’t come with an instruction manual, they don’t appear in catalogues and cannot be found in hypermarkets. They’re the toys from our grandparents’ time: solitary pieces waiting to come​...

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They don’t flash, they’re not battery-powered, they don’t come with an instruction manual, they don’t appear in catalogues and cannot be found in hypermarkets. They’re the toys from our grandparents’ time: solitary pieces waiting to come to life in playful hands. António Fachina, an artisan from Lamego, twists modernity and creates the wooden toys of yesteryear.

He took up handicrafts in 2002, after a lifetime as a carpenter. “I had a spine problem and was forbidden from physical exertion, but at 70 I didn’t feel comfortable. So, I decided to start playing.”

As he had a lot of timber at home, he decided to make models based on memories from his childhood and hasn’t stopped since. At 82, António spends his days at the workshop: “This is a disease. Even on Sunday mornings, I come here.”

Today, wooden toys have become outdated, struggling with the march of progress, new technologies, the many ranges of toys created by the major global brands and the fact that wood has been replaced with other materials. However, hints of the popularity of old times still survive, often associated with the happy memories of grown-ups.


A panoply of attractions

His small workshop is like a kind of enchanted place, peopled by toy cars, riders, swallows, small trucks, football tables, horse carts, toys on sticks, spinning dolls, ox carts.

The swallow seems to dominate his preferences, because “while you might sell five of the other toys, you sell 20 swallows.” “Children are enraptured as they see the wings flapping, so much so that they can’t let go,” he explains.

These toys arouse curiosity for their bright colours, shapes and textures. They are pieces that set off the little ones’ imagination and awake memories in the grown-ups. “Trucks are for 4 or 5-year olds, and the small ox carts are for the adults who treat them as decorative pieces.”

Children in the end are easy customers because they start playing and usually their parents don’t deny them the pleasure. After all, “the best way to make children good is to make them happy” (Oscar Wilde).

“They’re also sought after by adults who are moved by memories. They say ‘in my day, we had this, I’ll take one as a souvenir’”, the artisan adds. People regret the disappearance of wooden toys and praise António’s efforts in keeping this art alive.

The cheapest toy costs five euros, while the big trucks cost ten. “Then I have the fire engines which cost 100 euros and the Senhora dos Remédios float, which costs 150. These pieces don’t sell much,” he adds.


Five hundred toys

Imposing and quiet, the stick figures watch over the deftness and ingenuity with which the artisan builds the pieces that arouse children’s enthusiasm. “These toys carry memories from my childhood that I pass on to other generations.”

The pine boards have to be cut in a workshop to end up with the ideal thickness. Back in his refuge, the artisan takes a plane to the wooden surfaces to smoothen them out and, with a small saw, he makes the little car’s wheels.

“First, I carve all the little pieces and I only start nailing and assembling after painting.” The colours vary between yellow and red, because they’re flashier.” However, concessions are sometimes made to football club preferences or to special requests. “I’ve made green and blue swallows, and even black ones, because a friend of mine asked me to make a yellow beaked blackbird.”

Some pieces require steel wire or zinc plates, such as the swallows, the wheels for the cars, the trapeze artists or the roulettes. António will make some 500 toys a year.

Still smelling of paint and glue, the objects that will trigger mischief and adventures line up. “This will die because nobody wants to learn this craft”, he opines.

Schedules/Prices 
Contacts 
Owner/Responsible
António Fachina
Address
Rua Faffel, Ponte de Pau, nº6,
5100-055 Lamego
Phone
+351 254 612 017
Cellphone
+351 924 343 829
Latitude
41.09739998551098
Longitude
-7.812502050445573