Innovative creations from Birmingham furniture-makers Declan and Tully Gallagher are helping to boost the development of youngsters at a West Midlands nursery.
The Gallagher brothers, otherwise known as Twin Design, have been working with Reginald Road Day Nursery in Bearwood to produce items of furniture to encourage the development of toddlers’ motor skills, such as crawling, climbing and jumping.
The Jewellery Quarter-based designers recently set up the ‘Brunel’ bench at the nursery, which was custom-made to encourage motor skills development and aid children’s colour recognition.
“To the untrained eye, the piece of furniture appears to be a large colourful sofa, but the brilliantly designed bench has been a great success with multiples uses”, said Yvonne Kerr, Manager at Reginald Road Day Nursery.
“As soon as it arrived the children turned it into a ‘secret den’, a ‘big snake’ and a ‘choo choo train’!”, added Yvonne.
“It’s been a brilliant resource to help the children develop their gross motor skills and they’ve enjoyed the various textures of the bench too.”
Research published in July found that children who spend most of their time barefoot develop motor skills differently to those who normally wear shoes, being noticeably better at balancing and jumping.
“Designing and creating furniture that not only looks appealing but also has benefits for learning is what we love doing most”, said Declan, co-founder of Twin Design.
“We’ve also been working on a similar product for a nursery in Edgbaston.”
Twin Design was formed in 2007 during Declan’s final year at Nottingham Trent University, where he studied furniture and product design.
Upcoming projects from the designers include pioneering pieces of furniture for education institutions, combining comfort and practicality with Bluetooth audio technology and wireless phone charging.
