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 Savanna’s friends, Hannah and Ellie came over to visit. On a whim, Hannah and Ellie’s dad, Chris, picked up the disc and threw it. It sailed across the living room and the Pocket Disc was born.

The two families formed Phd Productions, LLC with the intention of making more flying discs. They worked for months refining the design and materials, with Savanna’s mom, Mindy Groft, crocheting new designs. Then Chris and Patrick began looking for a place to produce the Pocket Discs. Chris thought immediately of the impoverished area south of Mexico. “Since my family returned from traveling in Nicaragua, I have had a desire to contribute in that area of the world.” Since then production has been taken up in another Central American country, 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, Chris and Patrick found a cooperative 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!”

The Groft and Larsen families combined include five children all of whom have been enthusiastically involved in converting Savanna’s handwork project into a business. Hannah Larsen has created her own Pocket Disc business card and attended a recent music festival where she threw the Pocket Discs with other children. Avonlea Groft and Ellie Larsen have helped to sort and categorize Pocket Discs by color using their developing math skills. Logan Groft, a middle school basketball player, has been featured on marketing material stretching to catch a Pocket Disc ten feet in the air. Savanna, an accomplished gymnast, catches Pocket Discs in a one-handed cartwheel for the camera. All of the children are a testing ground for new Pocket Disc games and uses.