Our Approach
At TORTOU, we start small — and from there we build big. We are a design + innovation consultancy dedicated to unlocking the potential in early childhood through expertly crafted Experience Design. Our work thoughtfully integrates strategy, technology, learning pedagogy, and creative. We build for sustainable, cross-generational impact.
Our core beliefs shape every project.
Children show us how.
We study how young children experience the world and let these observation guide our work.
Collaboration builds better outcomes.
We design alongside families, educators, leaders, and communities. The people closest to the challenge are closest to the solution.
Ideas must be lived. Not just imagined.
We test, prototype, and refine everything we make, building solutions that work beautifully in the real world, not just on paper.
The best solutions are shaped by context.
We think in ecosystems, not silos. Our work connects individual experience to social, ecological, and urban systems.
What we do
From our Toronto studio, we partner with mission-oriented teams to make places, products, and services more accessible, beneficial, and delightful for young children. Our work creates value through enhanced user experiences.
Intentional Spaces
Design Audits
Strategic Planning
Planning + Implementation Guides
Custom Concepts + Fabrication
Design + Build Partnerships
Applied Montessori
Goals and Specification Development
Competitive Analysis
Persona Development and User Research
Experience Maps, User Journeys, and User Flows
Prototyping, Testing, and Iteration
Futures + Feasibility
Design Audits
Strategic Planning
Planning + Implementation Guides
Custom Concepts + Fabrication
Design + Build Partnerships
Leadership
Erika Fraser
Principal | Design Strategist
Working at the intersection of design, learning, and sustainability for over 15 years, Erika sees children not only as the future, but as today’s contributors.
She holds a B.Econ from University of Waterloo and is Social + Ecological Permaculture Design Certificate candidate.
Erika has worked alongside founding teams at Kik Interactive, Clearpath Robotics and Tangam Systems, and was on design teams launching digital products for early to mid-stage startups including Leapfrog, Patter, and LiveScribe.
Additionally, she’s the founder of Montessori-At-Home company Bueno Market and writer behind online publication, Raise In Place.
Lin Wan
Principal | Design Strategist
Never underestimate Gotham City. People get mugged coming home from work every day of the week. Sometimes things just go bad. Ooh, you think darkness is your ally?
You merely adopted the dark, I was born in it. Molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man. By then there was nothing to be but blinded. Theatricality and deception, powerful agents to the uninitiated. But we are initiated aren’t we, Bruce? Members of the League of Shadows. And you betrayed us.
Your anger gives you great power. But if you Iet it, it will destroy you as it almost did me. The first time I stole so that I wouldn’t starve, yes. I lost many assumptions about the simple nature of right and wrong. And when I traveled I learned the fear before a crime and the thrill of success. But I never became one of them.
Our Team
Together, we expand your team’s impact by connecting you to critical research, capacity and a network of experts.
Child Development Researchers
Experience Designers
Product Designers
Pedagogy Specialists
Urban and Ecological Designers
Workshop Facilitators + Stakeholder Engagement Experts