How our toys are made

Made by hand

Artiwood's toys are made by hand. You’ll never find assembly lines packed with row after row of plastic extrusion moulds in our factories. Instead you’ll find skilled people crafting, finishing and painting every toy we sell. Even when machines are used to cut and shape individual pieces, there’s still a person at the other end sanding, shaping, painting and assembling the finished product.

The human touch enhances the quality of our toys in ways you’d never imagine. For example, Caaocho rubber toys are individually created by a skilled artisan. He pours softened rubber latex into a mould then carefully rotates it in a series of slow, sweeping arcs to create a toy with internal walls of a smooth and even thickness. A team of artists then trim and buff each rubber toy's seam before hand painting individual features using food grade dyes.

An equally dedicated team creates the popular I'm Toy Melody Mix. More than 20 people are involved in a process that takes almost a week from start to finish. A Melody Mix begins its life as stack of rough sawn raw wooden planks. These are progressively cut, drilled, shaped and sanded into individual parts. Each part is then glued, screwed and assembled by hand before the completed product is finally painted and lacquered.

Made with care

In our factories the machines are merely tools. It's the skill of the people using them that ultimately creates the toys we love. With so much at stake our factories are reviewed and evaluated regularly. Like you we want toys coming out of the box in perfect condition every time.

In partnership with our suppliers we audit each factory's quality control (QC) protocols, review and revise training programs, test production samples, inspect facilities and assess working practices. Standard QC protocols include:

training factory staff on basic QC standards
inspecting individual parts for cosmetic flaws and faults
selecting random samples for assembly and testing on site to confirm they meet specification
weighing packed retail cartons to ensure all of the parts are inside.

Scroll down for an exclusive look inside some of our supplier's factories. See our toys being made by hand; with care.