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The spirit of Santa's workshop
is alive and well in Seattle
If you happen to walk down Westlake Av enue this holiday season, you might notice something that looks a lot like Santa's work shop: a small store filled with hundreds of authentic wood toys, and a woodshop next to it where each toy has been made. But un like other stores of its kind, all of the toys are made out of donated wood.
And to add to the holiday spirit, John Webster, one of the store's main woodwork ers, happens to look a lot like Santa Claus.
"I just love doing my job," said Webster. "I just try to do the best I can on every proj ect, and it brings me joy to see the looks on people's faces when they see the toys."
Webster is often joined in the workshop with fellow woodworker Marty Jensen.
Both Webster and Jensen found the shop when it was a part of The Giving Tree, a volunteer organization designed to create wooden toys and donate them to children in need.
When the Giving Tree closed down last year, one of its customers, Leslie Conti, de cided to take over the shop. It is now Eu rostyle Your Life and is owned and run by Conti.
"I just couldn't handle the thought of a place
like this closing down for good," Conti said.
Conti's initial vision for Eurostyle Your Life was to create a shop that sold a variety of artistic products from Europe, but she ex panded that vision to authentic wooden toys when she took over the former Giving Tree.
"It's definitely unique," she said. "You don't see many toys these days that aren't outsourced. I wanted there to be someplace that makes all of the toys that it sells."
Both Jensen and Webster are retirees and work at the shop as volunteers, but both said that working in the woodshop is exactly where they want to be.
"There's something magical about this place," said Jensen. "I really hope that we grow old here."
The shop features a wide variety of wooden toys, ranging from small trucks to rocking horses, and from generic toys to custom made orders. Both Jensen and Webster said they are open to any type of project and say the possibilities are endless.
"We could make a piano here if we want ed," said Jensen.
Conti said she isn't concerned about mak ing big profits - just being able to keep the place running.
"I can't imagine a place like this ever exist ing again if this place were to close down," she said.
Volunteers Marty Jensen (left) and]ohn Webster use donated wood to make wooden toys at Eurostyle Your Life on Westlake Avenue.
Check out the toy workshop at 2008 Westlake Ave. in Seattle. The store can be reached by calling (206) 633-3876 .•
Jeff Lehman is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.
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