We've written before how parents would do well to take a step back from the current baby gadget craze, which ropes parents into purchasing useless gimmicks like wipe warmers by not-so-subtly marketing the idea that you can buy into "good" parenting. One way to circumvent this foolishness is to get the bare essentials, buy secondhand, and to find multifunctional items like furniture which can transform into different uses as baby gets older.

Focusing on furnishings that are produced locally using FSC-certified wood and using raw materials that are renewable, biodegradable and non-toxic, Italian design company Woodly created "Roll," a multifunctional hanging crib on a "Happy Feet" tripod that can later transform into a greenhouse for the garden. Instead of a plastic, battery-operated swing, baby gets to sleep in something a bit softer, a mattress made of organic cotton and spelt husks, inside a birch cradle:

A birch shell holds a padded nest in pure wool felt for a child total comfort. Hanging up the cradle makes it swing not just in one direction, movements become soft and random, similar to the child’s movements inside its mother belly. Four strong cotton ropes join together in a central wood ring connected to a hook on the ceiling.



The inside cradle can be pulled out and washed, and tomorrow may become an elegant magazine holder, while the birch shell, turned upside down will be an handy little table for the child's room.



Both the tripod and birch cradle can be reused later down the road:

With the addition of translucent plastic sheeting, the Happy Feet tripod can also be turned into a small greenhouse (we imagine it could also be a lovely kids' play tent, if covered with bedsheets).

© Woodly

There are other ways to install this versatile piece; Roll can also be hung from the ceiling, sans tripod.

© Woodly

For those parents who want a ground-level cradle, there's Pluma, the non-hanging version of Roll.

© Woodly

It's one way to save money and proves that babies don't have to cost that much if parents think critically about what's really needed: instead of a uni-functional item that gets discarded once it's outgrown, designs like the Roll cradle and Happy Feet tripod can be re-assigned to new uses, depending on what's needed at the moment. More over at Woodly.