Designed in Melbourne, made by hand in Nepal by more than 350 women artisans. Fair Trade USA certified. 100% natural New Zealand wool, OEKO-TEX Standard 100. More than 600 Tara Treasures pieces in our shop, one of the deepest felt selections of any US retailer.
The Large Felt Farm Mat Playscape. Now available to pre-order.
The first thing you notice when a Tara Treasures shipment arrives is how the wool holds its shape. We have had sets go out, come back years later as a gift for a younger sibling, and you cannot tell. The felt does not thin out or ball up. It just keeps being a small woolly fox, or a head of broccoli, or a fish the size of a child's palm.
We added Tara to our shelf before most US shops had heard of them. Here is what we have learned since.
The name
Tara is a bodhisattva in Tibetan Buddhist tradition, revered across Nepal and the Himalayan world as a symbol of compassion and liberation. That is where Jooli Chan and Jag Gurung chose the name from. It also happens to be their daughter's name. Their second child, born in Melbourne just before COVID, is named Tara. Both meanings fit the business they built.
The makers
Jag grew up in Nepal, left as a child when his father found work abroad, and spent years looking for a concrete way to give something back. Before Tara Treasures became a business, he and Jooli were selling Nepalese craft at markets in Victoria on weekends. A side hustle, not yet a company.
The 2015 earthquake changed the direction. Jag and Jooli went to Nepal a month after it hit. Some felt workshops had survived. The women working in them were depending on foreign aid. Jooli later described it simply: buying from them was a way for those women to rebuild their lives. They came back to Melbourne with a plan: build demand for what those workshops made.
When COVID hit in 2020, Jooli and Jag stepped away from their corporate careers and went all in. Jooli was on maternity leave with their newborn daughter, Tara. Jag's role had ended. Rather than looking for what came next, they signed a warehouse lease. By September 2020 the first shipment had sold out. Tara Treasures grew to 800 retailers worldwide, 350 artisans in Nepal, and a team of 17 in Australia.
Jooli Chan and Jag Gurung, founders of Tara Treasures, with their family.
The women who make them
More than 350 women artisans now make these pieces. Ninety-five percent of them are mothers: they come in after the school run, work, and go home with a wage that is theirs. The workshops are audited for pay, conditions, and child-labor compliance through Amfori and other independent trade-standards bodies. One of their main suppliers recently received an A across all audit categories.
How the designs come together
Jooli trained as a designer before moving into corporate marketing. She hand-draws every design in a notebook, color-coded, then works through prototypes with a master-felter in Nepal. The influences are concrete: animals, space, the natural world, and whatever their children were into that year. Their daughter's enrollment at a Waldorf school pushed the range further into open-ended, schema-based play.
The first product line that took off was finger puppets, starting with Australian animals. Play mats followed and became the bestseller. The range has since grown to include licensed collections: May Gibbs characters, and The Gruffalo from Julia Donaldson, for which Tara Treasures holds worldwide rights to make the characters in felt.
The wool
100% natural New Zealand wool, colored with azo-free non-toxic dyes. The materials carry OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification, which means every component including thread, dye, and filler has been independently tested for more than 100 harmful substances and cleared. The raw wool carries GOTS certification, tracing it from organic farms in New Zealand through to the artisans' hands in Nepal. They chose felt because it is tactile and versatile, and New Zealand wool was accessible in Nepal through a trade agreement between the two countries.
Nothing synthetic, nothing we would hesitate to hand a young child. For parents of children with sensory sensitivities, OEKO-TEX is the honest answer we can give.
Fair Trade, certified
Tara Treasures was the first Australian toy brand to earn Fair Trade USA Certification. It took two years. "Anyone can say their products are ethically made, but what does that even mean?" Jooli said in a WHO Australia profile of the brand. "We spent almost two years registering our business with Fairtrade." Not self-reported sourcing, but an independent body verifying fair wages, safe conditions, and no child labor at every step of production. A portion of every sale flows back into community development funds in Nepal: schools, healthcare, infrastructure.
Designed in Melbourne. Made in Nepal. Certified in between. We carry it because the paperwork is real.
What we have watched it do
On our own counter and in the photos customers send us: a felt fruit set becomes a market stall, then a kitchen, then lunch for a row of stuffed animals. Finger puppets turn a bedtime story into a two-act play. A farm set becomes a barnyard, then a vet clinic, then a parade. The wool does not tell the child what to do. The child tells the wool.
Waldorf and Montessori educators reach for this on purpose, not because it is certified educational, but because it gets out of the way. You do not need to follow any pedagogy for it to work. The same farm set that lives in a classroom will keep a child busy on a kitchen floor for an hour with no adult narrating the scene. Tara Treasures pieces are used as teaching aids in more than 200 early learning centres across Australia, and just as often they are in a toy box at home with no philosophy attached.
Places to start
Tara Treasures are slow goods. Every piece travels from a cottage workshop in Nepal to Australia, then to us here in California, before it reaches your door. That supply chain takes time, and availability moves in waves. We carry more than 600 Tara Treasures pieces, one of the deepest felt selections of any US retailer, and a lot of what you see below sells out between shipments. These are the ones that go fastest and come back as repeat orders. Shipping is more volatile right now than it has been in years, so if something shows as pre-order, ordering earlier is the surest way to hold your spot before the next batch lands. Email us at contact@mytoywagon.com if you need help tracking something down.
Browse all Tara Treasures pieces
What families say
Tara Treasures pieces hold a 4.9-star average across 134 reviews in our shop. A few, in our customers' own words:
"This play mat is thick and sturdy and has so many details. We bought it to use with our Holztiger farm animals and a wooden toy barn. It will last for many years and will probably be passed down when my children have outgrown it." -- Sara B., Connecticut
"This fairy girl is just delightful. I attached mine to the outside of a wrapped gift and needless to say the presentation brought joy. The only con is that I wanted to keep her for myself, so maybe buy a few at a time." -- Lorraine N., Hawaii
"I bought the mouse family as a gift for a friend. She has named them and plans on writing stories about their adventures. I am certain she will be purchasing more when they become available." -- Gayle G., Tennessee
"My kids love everything from Tara's Treasures in their play kitchen. The strawberries were extra sweet for Valentine's Day and will be perfect year round for special pretend breakfasts and desserts." -- Cayla S., South Carolina
"My granddaughter has played with it from 2 years old and is still enjoying it. She pretends her rabbits are eating the vegetables, and her people pick them. Love that it is made from natural fibers." -- Lorraine M., New York
Reviews from Judge.me. 134 Tara Treasures reviews, 4.9-star average as of June 2026.
Questions we hear about Tara Treasures
Where can I buy Tara Treasures in the US?
At My Toy Wagon. We carry more than 600 Tara Treasures pieces, one of the deepest felt selections of any US retailer, shipping from Arcadia, California. If something you are looking for shows as pre-order, that is the surest way to hold stock before it sells out. Email us at contact@mytoywagon.com if you need help finding something.
Is Tara Treasures fair trade?
Yes. Fair Trade USA Certified, the first Australian toy brand to hold that certification. It took them two years to complete the registration process.
What is the felt made from?
100% natural New Zealand wool, colored with azo-free, non-toxic dyes. OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified. The raw wool is GOTS certified from organic farms in New Zealand.
Who makes the toys?
More than 350 women artisans in Nepal, 95% of them mothers, using traditional felting techniques. The brand was founded by Jooli Chan and Jag Gurung and is designed in Melbourne.
Are they safe for little ones?
The materials are independently tested and non-toxic. Check the age guidance on each product for small parts.
How does availability work?
Tara Treasures moves fast. We open pre-orders monthly so you can reserve pieces ahead of a birthday or holiday. If something you want shows as pre-order, that is the surest way to get it.
