Kids Playhouse

Circu has made a name for itself as the premier maker of luxury children’s furniture. It was founded on a dream of creating a magical world for children where they could live their fantasies. The company is owned by the Covet Group and was established in 2014 in Portugal.

Each piece that Circu creates is unique, with its own individual character and charm. Boasting bright pastels and bold primary colors, the company’s imaginative handmade stools, bookcases, storage cabinets and beds are produced with carefully selected materials by Portuguese artisans — a team of expert carpenters, weavers and designers. Each furnishing is made with great care — Circu products are fine-tuned to cater to the curious and adventurous spirits of children, and some pieces take up to 12 weeks to complete. 

Circu’s designs typically draw on familiar forms — while the shapes and structures are sometimes unconventional, each piece is inspiring and adds a charming touch to any space. There are beds that replicate train cars and balloon gondolas, bookcases made to look like big, red rockets and dressers created to appear as unevenly stacked individual drawer casings. Crafted in acrylic, aluminum and stainless steel, Circu’s line of Graphic floor lamps created in partnership with DelightFULL Unique Lamps brings blocky oversize letters of the alphabet into a child’s bedroom for a clever lighting alternative. The company offers chairs adorned with fairy wings and bunny ears, as well as desks in playful shapes, such as airplanes and clouds. 

Headquartered in Porto and Rio Tinto, Portugal, the brand also has locations in Saint-Ouen, a northern suburb of Paris, and in New York City. Circu has exhibited its covetable furnishings at Salone del Mobile Milano.

Find Circu lighting and other furniture on 1stDibs.

When you’re shopping for antique, new and vintage children’s furniture, you’ll want your choices to fit nicely within the decor scheme of the rest of your home. But you’ll also want to create an alluring and inspirational space for your children to feel relaxed and encouraged creatively. Indeed, a child’s room can be simultaneously stylish and playful — the ideal environment for children.

Understandably, beds were the first piece of furniture designed for young children. In Ancient Egypt, children’s beds were scaled-down versions of adult beds. They were intended to be a logical size for a child and low enough to the ground so that they could climb in by themselves.

Historians discovered early high chairs in Ancient Greece. In the 6th century B.C., a child’s training potty might have also been used as a high chair, while archaeologists on a dig discovered a terracotta high chair in a marketplace in Athens. By the Renaissance period, children’s bookshelves were popular with upper-class families who had disposable income and the desire to beautify all areas of the home. The original purpose was to organize school books, but shelves eventually became integral to children’s rooms of the era.

In the early 20th century, Italian physician Maria Montessori changed the way designers thought about children’s furniture. She wrote that it was important for children to have a safe environment of their own that they could easily navigate. Montessori believed that children’s furniture should be sized for them but that it should also be made of light, durable materials so that it’s easy for them to carry if needed.

Today’s widely known mid-century modern furniture designers took interest in the idea that young children should have well-crafted furniture of their own. You can find vintage mid-century modern children’s furniture created by the likes of Harry Bertoia, Charles and Ray Eames and Alvar Aalto. Contemporary industrial designer and architect Philippe Starck is also known for having introduced versions of his furniture that were geared toward children, especially his seating and storage solutions.

It’s never too early for good design. Decorating a child’s room offers the opportunity to combine elevated furnishings and a youthful spirit and can result in spaces that are at once elegant and whimsical. On 1stDibs, find design ideas for children’s rooms as well as a variety of new, antique and vintage children’s furniture today.