About Phd Productions

Our Story

Savanna Groft, a third grader at the time, was assigned a project at school. Her teacher asked her to crochet a round placemat as part of her handwork studies. Savanna’s initial efforts yielded a round disk, but because she had not added enough stitches, the disc curled under forming a small lip. This placemat of sorts sat on a table in her living room until it was inadvertantly thrown. It sailed across the living room and the Pocket Disc was born.

Phd Productions was formed with the intention of making more flying discs. For months the design and materials were refined, with Savanna’s mom, Mindy, crocheting new designs. Since then production has been taken up in Guatemala.

The Mayans of Guatemala have been weaving and crocheting bright patterns for centuries and bring a deep cultural talent for handwork to the Pocket Discs. Each village specializes in a few patterns. The patterns of a village are passed down with the generations. Through a veteran importer, Phd Productions found cooperatives of Guatemalan women to produce Pocket Discs. In return for the amazing artistry that these women add to the Pocket Disc, the women are paid a fair wage and work under good conditions. The money they make crocheting Pocket Discs and other hand-made products enables their children to go to school and helps keeps them out of poverty in a country in which 56% of people now live below the poverty level.

The toy has universal appeal and because of its inherent safety has been incorporated into the PE curriculum at a local elementary school. The physical education teacher who uses the Pocket Discs in his classes said, “I just can’t think of a way that these could hurt someone. I mean look at that keep away game we just played. If we had been using Frisbees®, there would have been 10 kids hurt before we were done.” A student listening nearby added, “When it hits me in the mouth, my lips don’t get caught up in my braces!”