This highly decorative stacking toy helps young children develop their motor skills. Shinzi Katoh design. Made from lacquered wood in France. Main features: made in FranceShinzi Katoh designDevelops a child's motor skills Shinzi Katoh is a designer, creator, painter and writer with over 40 years of experience, a Japanese artist known to fans around the world for his cute, cheerful designs. Shinzi is best known for his Zakka pieces (Japanese: everything that can improve the home), but he is also the author and illustrator of more than 25 books. This includes children's books and illustrated poetry for adults. In response to concerns about the environment, he created the character Sorabear the polar bear to educate and raise awareness about global warming. The Sorabear Foundation was awarded the Japanese Minister of the Environment Prize in 2010 and received the first Solar Energy Award in 2012. In recent years, Shinzi has focused more on painting, holding exhibitions in museums and department stores throughout Japan. These exhibitions also offer a range of fun workshops and educational opportunities, with an emphasis on engaging children in art. The live painting workshop, in which children paint and work together alongside Shinzi on a large painting, is held at the Colette boutique in Paris, the Aichi Triennale in Nagoya, and the Himedži and Kasugai museums.
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Vilac is proud to work closely with ADEME, a French government organisation involved in a wide range of activities leading to environmental protection. The history of this agency dates back to the 1970s, to the time of the oil crisis. It actively collaborates with politicians, public organisations, the private sector and citizens. It is behind recommendations, proposals for technical, methodological and financial procedures, studies and awareness campaigns. Thanks to its many years of operation, ADEME is recognised as a credible third party providing guarantees of efforts towards a sustainable future. By purchasing a product from a manufacturer cooperating with this agency, the customer can express their will to preserve the environment through strictly assessed procedures and key innovations throughout the process of its creation.
For over 100 years, VILAC has been fulfilling children's dreams. The French brand VILAC, as the flagship of the French industry for the production of wooden toys, is located deep in the heart of the Jura Mountains, surrounded by mountains, lakes and forests. Since 1911, VILAC has been producing wooden toys hand in hand with traditional manufacturing, modern trends, adaptable economics and an emphasis on ecology. The toys are made from wood sourced from sustainably managed forests, respecting biodiversity and with a strong emphasis on environmentally friendly technologies. VILAC prefers short routes for wood delivery. It uses local wood and ensures that a new tree is planted for every tree felled. Because today we can no longer ignore the challenges of environmental problems, VILAC is committed to defending our planet. After all, a river consists of many small drops. Therefore, VILAC continues its environmentally friendly activities.
VILAC also follows in the footsteps of the old turning factories that once made the region famous: craftsmen lovingly turned, smoothed, sanded, lacquered and decorated wood in their workshop in the Jura mountains. Beech, hornbeam, alder or boxwood from the surrounding French forests are used; this wood guarantees the specificity and quality of production. There are so many stories about these craftsmen who love their craft and have managed to pass it on. In fact, not much has changed in the last 110 years, and that's quite reassuring. The gestures are almost the same, the noise of the machines, the sounds of carving and painting wood create the same melody. Above all, the workshop still smells of beech wood chips, which evoke old memories. If the company does not have the know-how for some toys in France, it manufactures them abroad, where it applies the same quality requirements. In production, it eliminates the use of all plastic parts except when necessary for the safety of children. And this also applies to product packaging. VILAC applies high quality and safety requirements to the production of toys both in France and in other foreign countries.
VILAC collaborates in the production of toys with talented illustrators, artists and designers who create wooden toys with original designs and often decorative elements that add a touch of authenticity and naturalness not only to the children's room. These artists adapt their visual world to traditional wooden toys: pop culture with Keith Haring, poetry with Michelle Carlsund, retro with Ingela P. Arrhenius, Suzy Ultman's eye for detail and others. Each generation can find something to marvel at in their creations. VILAC is constantly developing and establishing new collaborations, the most important of which is
