Artiwood introduced two new brands at Reed Gift Fairs Sydney on the weekend.
The sustainable toy company will be launching EcoPlay and Once-Kids, both eco-friendly brands aiming to educate kids while being fun at the same time.
Artiwood managing director, Andrew McGregor, is particularly excited about bringing Once-Kids to Australia.
“This brand has been receiving some phenomenal feedback whenever we’ve shown samples,” he enthuses.
“We certainly got excited when we first saw its catalogue.
“In essence, it’s a fully compatible wooden construction building block system. Its bricks are made from sustainably sourced beech wood and are compatible with those plastic interlocking blocks many families already have. However, this is a totally eco-friendly option.
“The Once-Kids block system has been in production for eight years. It’s 100 per cent free of plastic. It’s not experimental. It’s not an eco-friendly vision for this popular toy category. It’s the real thing that’s in production right now.”
McGregor anticipates a lot of interest at the gift fair this weekend.
“The product honestly has to be seen to be believed. The quality is exceptional. Our first samples arrived by air last week. It’s one thing to see a product via video link, it’s altogether different to see in real life. The physical product has exceeded all expectations.”
Once-Kids offers a growing range of environmentally-friendly toy options including its original natural beech wood eco-bricks, bamboo bricks, colour bricks and large size blocks, plus compatible, collectible and customisable wooden action figures and mini-figures.
Artiwood is launching the brand locally with more than 40 products. Retailers can choose from entry-level sets of 24 pieces through to bulk packs of 250 pieces. They can also expand their collectibles offering with 12 poseable action figures—six heroes and six villains. Each unique character is made from solid wood, making them an eco-friendly alternative to plastic collectibles.
“Once-Kids is really eco-friendly from end-to-end. Every product comes packaged in a solid wood storage box with sliding lid. For retail display each box is secured by a full colour wrap-around sleeve or presented in a full colour retail carton.”
Once-Kids also offers a full line of products designed for educators and parents. This includes multi-size brick kits with illustrated lesson plans and learning activities. Educational packs are available for its classic eco-bricks, colour bricks and plus sized bricks.
The other brand Artiwood is launching at the fair is EcoPlay, an Italian company that creates colourful, sustainably made educational games and puzzles for pre-schoolers. The games are made with recycled and recyclable raw materials, sourced from responsible sources. They’re individually illustrated by artists from all over the world, each with their own unique, bright and breezy, refined style. The product and packaging are 100 per cent plastic-free. Its components are made using FSC certified materials sourced from sustainably managed forests.
“EcoPlay’s innovative educational products are designed for children from the age of three years and older. They’ve also solved a problem that’s the bane of every parent. Thanks to an online portal you’ll never lose a set of any product’s user instructions again—rules and instructions for playing each game are available by scanning the QR code printed on every product’s flip-lid storage box. You can download a new copy anytime, anywhere,” adds McGregor.
Artiwood is launching EcoPlay with 10 popular educational titles, samples of each will be on display at Reed Gift Fairs Sydney, stand K43.
