Beyond Pinocchio

Most people of a certain age wistfully remember their first toy collection. More likely than not, it included wooden toys—handcrafted alphabet blocks, role-play items and other sturdy playthings much more at home during what memory says was a simpler time. But many toy companies have been betting that the modern and the tech-free worlds can—and should—coexist, and are bringing hundreds of award-winning new wooden toys and games into the specialty market every year.

“We live in a modern world, but we still are in need of the basics,” says Blue Orange Games founder Julien Mayot. His San Francisco company has been creating wooden games designed especially for the U.S. for five years. Wood, Mayot says, is the “material of choice” for toys because it is recyclable, processed with few chemicals and non-toxic. He also believes wood has unique play characteristics.

“When you play with a wooden game, you have the sound that you cannot find in any other game,” Mayot says. “It becomes almost like an instrument...the whole atmosphere is created by the wood, by the sound of the product, by the warmth of the product. The product is warmer than cold plastic games. I grew up with wooden toys that were passed down generations, from my great-grandfather. And not only did I have fun playing with [those] building blocks, but you could tell—you can still tell—just looking at [them], [their] history. The history is ingrained in wood and this is something beautiful because it passes on through generations.”

Barbara Aimes, president of 8-year-old Imagiplay, Boulder, Colo., is equally passionate. She specializes in themed wooden figure sets that offer open-ended play. “Wooden toys are timeless,” she says. “They have more life in them than plastic toys, and a more tactile feel to them. Inherently, they have less of a throw-away quality.”

Mayot, Aimes and other manufacturers are hoping retailers share their fervor. Luckily, many do: “I look for toys that are safe and well-designed, and I have a soft spot for organic, natural and handmade toys,” says Milanie Cleere, founder and CEO of Oompa.com, Los Angeles. Cleere stocks handcrafted wooden toys from over a dozen different companies.

Both Mayot and Aimes cite commitments to the environment and to social awareness in the design and manufacturing of their products. BOG replants two trees for every one it uses in its games, while Imagiplay is rolling out a point-of-purchase campaign at retail to introduce what it calls its Toys with Integrity approach.

“All of our toys are environmentally friendly,” Aimes says. “[They] are made in our factory in Sri Lanka where workers are paid a fair wage, there is no child labor...We feel that how a product is made is as important as the product itself. We're hoping to... help to instill these values in children.”

“People should know when they buy a wooden toy…that [it] was made with passion,” Mayot says. “[That it] was made by hand by people who put their talent and experience and skills into action to make every wooden toy unique and durable for life.”

Established wooden-toy companies have also noticed rising demand in the category, and are introducing updated versions of staple products as well as innovative new designs.

Distribution to U.S. customers is an “increasingly important export market,” says Lea Culliton, vice president of sales and marketing for Haba USA, a division of Germany's Habermaass. The Skaneateles N.Y.-based subsidiary offers nearly 1,300 products to specialty retailers looking to stock toys not readily available to mass.

As for Guidecraft, Englewood, N.J., wooden toys “are where we came from. It's our history. It's what we know,” says Jason Fein, president. “We want to capitalize on that.” The company, which has specialized in wooden toys and child development products for 42 years, plans to add significantly to its retail product list next year.

Sweden's Brio, the largest wooden-toy producer in the world, has dramatically updated its offerings for 2006 with the new Network track series and characters, which “uses rail play to introduce kids to the imaginary world behind a computer screen,” says Mike Pisors, brand manager at its U.S. distributor, Hatfield, Pa.-based K'nex. The unique line seems to fit in well with the quirky plastic construction toys that K'nex has always specialized in, a development that seems perfectly natural to Blue Orange's Mayot.

“The trend in wooden toys to me is something that always keeps plastic concepts in mind,” Mayot says. “That's the true innovation…and that's why we focus on the U.S. market, because that's where the future is.”