Wild Apples Toys
The Founder and creator at Wild Apples is from Berlin. Gunther Keil immigrated to the U.S. as a professor of German Literature. Currently he lives with his family on 50 acres in Trumansburg, on the west side of Cayuga Lake in Central New York. All of the toys he makes are made from sustainable wood found on his 50-acre centennial farm in Trumansburg, New York.
His designs are known in both the Old and New World. They are in the permanent collection of the Toy Museum in Nuremberg, Germany and the Hartsville Museum in Hartsville, NY. They have also been displayed in the "Toys for all Ages" show at the Smithsonian, and most recently in Paul J. Smith's "Objects for Use/Handmade by Design" show at the American Craft Museum in New York City. His designs have been published in Fine Woodworking Design Books, and The Woodworker's Journal and in the book, "Objects for Use" published in conjunction with the exhibition at the American Craft Museum in 2001. His work is found in craft stores and galleries throughout the United States and abroad.
He has always worked with animal shapes, Homo sapiens included. He prefers to use the natural colors of wood to match natural forms, but occasionally add wood dyes for color accents. Recently he has developed the concept of habitats, which portray animals in their regional environments. All his work, especially the miniature habitats express the fragility and exquisiteness of life, which is too easily forgotten in our technical world.