Biographical notes on Carla de Jong

Carla was born in Holland, where she attended a Rudolf Steiner school for her primary school years, (origin of the doll making!). She studied medicine and graduated in 1970, the year she married Chris.
Shortly after, they migrated to Australia and started their "Ozzie" life in Melbourne. The medical degree was not recognised here, which was a major disappointment that took years to overcome. When the children were little, Carla started making dolls for them, which soon extended to making them for others, ending in a little doll-making venture. She then started doll-making classes at home and conducted classes and weekend workshops at other venues.
The wooden toys started in a similar fashion. She started work in the garage and soon was selling dolls and wooden toys. Since those early days she "promoted" from the garage to her own cedar workshop in the back of the yard.
Carla has exhibited at: all but the first Craft Expo at Glenaeon, the Woollahra Craft Show, Bowral Craft Expo, St Albans Gallery, Her toys can be found in the Early Childhood section of the Australian Museum in Sydney ("Kids' Island"), playgroups, kindergartens, doctors' and dentists' waiting rooms and various other venues.
What started as a hobby has grown into a full-time job with a job satisfaction one can only dream of!

Chris and Carla have four grown-up children, who all attended Glenaeon for their schooling and they are the proud grandparents of six grandchildren.