When launching the blog, I decided that I would not only interview domestic manufacturers but also those from abroad. I am thrilled to announce the very first international manufacturer interview in the Wooden Toy Recommendation series, which I conducted with the owner of Bauspiel. In response to my inquiry, Uwe Deckelmann wrote back, saying that they are a very small company with a huge workload, without a marketing team or much free time. However, he didn’t want to disappoint me by not responding. To my great joy, he made time for us, dear readers, giving us a tiny glimpse behind the scenes of Bauspiel. (2021)
(Az interjút magyarul itt találod: Interjú Uwe Deckelmann-nal, a Bauspiel tulajdonosával )
What is your story? How long have you made wooden toys?
The Bauspiel GmbH is founded in 2013, but before we also had some „special products” made for us, from other manufakturers. I’m personal selling toys to the educational institutes in Germany since 1983, and over the years some ideas came up, from our contacts with our customers. First we asked some other companies to produce items for us, but at a certain point we started to organize our own production.
Do you look after the environment? What kind of wood do you use for producing?
Yes, we personal are very commited to the saving our common environment. We try to save resources, we use as far as possible natural materials, and take care for our partners, customers, workers, suppliers, and also for our selfes. We try to create a good circle of partners, living our ideas of fair business in all directions.
We use european wood, from which we check the fsc-comfirmation from our suppliers. As it is a quite expensive and workfull procedure, to get this certificate by our self, we postphoned this, until we have enough money to pay this. We are just a small company!
What is your conception about making wooden toys?
To help children in expressing their creativity, encourage them to go for beauty. It`s the idea to build a bridge between the technical (male?) effort to build big buildings, and the (Female?) input to fill this with beauty and stile…
We got very often the feedback in the german kindergardens, that Boys and Girls love to play together with our toys, they learn from each other. Girls go into architecture and construction, Boys go into design and roleplay….They inspire each other.
Who designed the toys?
My ex-wife (we are still very good friends) who is now in retirement , my wife, and me.
How did you find the perfect match (because it is) the wooden and the Acril. What was the main thought? Why are these blocks so big?
Well, to be honest: To get the girls in the construction zone, we started to put some „Diamonds” in… it works. But also we try to find the right colours. We wanted wooden toys, with educational sense, and we want the children to play with this out of their own. Not because someone tells them. About the size…. I don’t know. It happend.
We found this size good for the Kids in the kindergardens. Also we found these dimensions in many other wooden toys from other manufakturers, and we want to make them easy to combine them with other brands… You know, kids love to combine, they put dinosaurus into the holy family on christmas tabel…..I like this.
