About Teddytech

The Beginning

1984 was a momentous year. Little did Eunice Beaton realize how much her life was about to change! It wasn’t a sudden ‘aha’ moment, but rather a series of events that gained momentum over a period of time, each one reinforcing the next until the little bear that set the whole ball rolling grew like Topsy and could no longer be contained!

The little teddy bear was inspired by a pattern in a craft magazine and Eunice was challenged to make the teddy bear. That was it - the teddy bear ‘bug’ had bitten and, of course, there was no known cure.

Bear after bear was designed, stitched, completed and each one soon found a new home. She was intrigued by the reaction that her bears elicited and the fact that the most enduring of all toys, the teddy bear, continued to enchant people of all ages.

The First Shop

Her dream of one day opening a specialist teddy bear shop became a reality ten years later when, in 1994, Durban's first teddy bear shop, Thread Bears, The Home of Traditional Bears, opened its doors to bear lovers and bear makers. Situated between a row of small shops in Gordon Road, in the leafy suburb of Morningside, Durban, South Africa, Thread Bears represented the culmination of years of hard work and the realisation, at last, of Eunice's dream.

The First 'Big Move'

Eunice was joined by her daughter, Di and by 2002 Thread Bears had outgrown it's space and so the 'Big Move' took place to a charming house in Florida Road. By then Thread Bears had changed its name to Teddytech, and became known as the place “Where the magic of bearmaking begins...

With 100s of teddy bear kits and patterns, designed exclusively by both Eunice & her daugher, Di, as well as a large assortment of Steiff-Schulte Mohair and bear making supplies, enthusiastic bearmakers are sure to find plenty of items that will enhance their bearmaking experience.