beHulda
at beHulda, we believe childhood doesn’t need to be directed — it needs to be respected.
beHulda continues the work and thinking of Icelandic designer Hulda Hreiðarsdóttir, developed in close partnership with Tom Shea.
Together, their work challenged a common misunderstanding:
Play is not an activity. It is an action.
And when play is restricted, simplified, or controlled, children are affected — mentally, physically, and developmentally.
To give children the best chance of becoming fully themselves, they need time, space, and the freedom to use their minds and bodies, supported by the right physical, nutritional, and emotional conditions.
Across everything we create, the intention is simple:
To make available. To invite. And then — to step back.
What children choose to do with what is offered belongs wholly to them.
Hulda and Tom
A shared way of seeing
Tom Shea had already spent a lifetime working with children when he met Icelandic designer Hulda Hreiðarsdóttir.
From the late 1960s onward, his work moved fluidly between practice, policy, and building organisations — always anchored by one principle: children come first.
Over the years, he came to understand something essential:
Play is not an activity. It is an action.
And when that action is restricted, children are harmed — mentally, physically, and developmentally.
The meeting...
Tom met Hulda at an exhibition where she was introducing her work to the UK.
Before he could take anything, she offered just one condition:
Make them available to the children. And let the children decide what they are.
It aligned completely with his own thinking.
So he took some. Then more. And then more again.
At the time, Tom was running six nurseries. What Hulda had created did not behave like products — they became part of the children’s thinking, movement, and conversation.Share information about your brand with your customers. Describe a product, make announcements, or welcome customers to your store.
Iceland
When Hulda announced she was closing — her investors unable to support slow, careful growth — Tom travelled to Iceland.
What he found there was not only Hulda’s work, but a society shaped by similar beliefs:
That children need time.
That they need space.
That they need trust.
Together, they recognised that play had been widely misunderstood.
Children do not need to be taught how to play.
They need the conditions that allow play to flourish.
Working together
Their partnership grew through practice.
Hulda came to the UK, working in the factory alongside Tom and Jacob — designing, testing, and refining.
Not to create products, but to create possibilities.
Together, they also founded International Play Iceland — bringing people together each year to experience a different way of understanding children and play.
That work continues today with Hulda’s sisters, Helga and Bryndis (Dísa), alongside Tom.
Continuing...
When Hulda died in 2015, the work did not end.
Tom continues to develop what they began — holding to the same principles, and allowing them to grow carefully and honestly.
beHulda exists because of that partnership.
Principles
What we hold
Restriction of play leads to real harm.
To develop well, children must:
Use their minds Use their bodies Have time Have space Be supported physically, nutritionally, and emotionally
Everything we do sits within this understanding.
In practice
Make things available. Let the children determine what they are.
Do not over-direct. Do not close down possibility.
Give time. Give space.
Support the whole child—body, mind, and wellbeing.
Feed children well—appropriately, not excessively.
Offer. Then step back.