 November
2008 - The Museum of Childhood in London, part of the Victoria & Albert Museum, is to exhibit toys designed and produced by Wivenhoe resident, Susan Murray (formerly Wynter). Susan set up her company ‘The Toy Trumpet Workshops’ in Cornwall as a young woman in 1946 sharing premises, initially, with a local undertaker. She built this into a successful business, with an international reputation, producing a wide range of high quality wooden toys and selling to major outlets like James Galt and the Educational Supply Association.
The firm later moved to London and in 1971 came to Brightlingsea where Susan set up her workshops in the barns opposite All Saints church. At its peak, in the early 80’s, the firm had a turn-over of about £200,000 a year, employing over ten local people. In 1985, the quality of her work was recognised by the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) which included one of her posters in an exhibition and referred to Susan Wynter as ‘the magical toymaker’. In 2008, the Museum of Childhood acquired 25 of Susan’s designs and plans to place them on permanent display in the coming months.
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Originally, Susan designed what she describes as ‘glass case’
pieces: toys bought by collectors for their quality and craftsmanship but
later, with two children of her own, Susan realised these toys had no
place in the nursery. She rethought her approach to emphasise function and
education and this development proved highly successful. Susan’s designs
were exhibited at the Design Centre, at the Venice Biennale and at British
Pavilions at overseas fairs.
