7 Mansfield Road, Gospel Oak, London NW3
80 year old Kristen opened her toy shop in 1973 and has spent the last 40 years sourcing toys for it.
Severely dyslexic, Kristen hid herself away at school in the woodwork studio, where she started building her first doll's house, a grand Georgian mansion, aged 15. It took her three years, but when it was finished the house was so beautiful that it was featured in the Essex County Standard and she became something of a local celebrity.
Kristen went on to set up the first toy department in Heal's on Tottenham Court Road in 1954, before opening her own shop in 1973, where she has been amassing a vast stock of toys and miniatures ever since.
Handmade toys, hand-to-mouth existence.
Knock-to-enter system.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-38642319/my-shop-kristin-baybars-toy-shop-in-london
https://vimeo.com/88807171
'it's only a totally curious person who would want to even knock on the door in the first place.'
'some people wouldn't find it magical at all, but people who are on the same wavelength find it a magical place.'
'taken the craftsman hours to make and seconds to break.'
'people I would have never talked to in my life if it were just a street situation.'
'It's fun to be a little intimidating at times. Once I came to the aid of a woman with a baby who was begging a parking controller not to lift her car on to a truck. I looked him in the eye and said, 'I'm a witch. You'll regret it.' You've never seen someone remove clamps and vanish so quickly.'
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