Focus On: Goki & Heimess Natural Wooden Toys
Both Goki and Heimess are brands from one of Europes leading wooden toy manufacturers, Gollnest & Kiesel, who are based in Northern Germany. Founded in 1981 by Gerhard Gollnest and Fritz-Rüdiger Kiesel, they set out to produce responsible toys.
Made from natural resources, wooden toys are designed to be handed down from generation to generation, meaning they last longer and are enjoyed by many babies and children.
Gollnest & Kiesel only use wood from sustainable European forests, and also go one step further by actively planting trees each year. Every year they donate a new forest in Schleswig-Holstein, which is currently the least forested state. They do this by planting a tree for every newborn baby born in the state, under the company moto “a tree for every newborn in Schleswig-Holstein”.
Toys should be both fun and safe. To ensure all their toys meet the highest safety standards they are continuously tested by both the in-house quality control laboratory and external testing institutes.
They are committed to providing safe working environments and fair pay for all employees in all of their manufacturing countries.
- Since 2004 over 400,000 trees have been planted in new forests (in October 2019 – 10,000 trees were planted in Struvenhütten)
- Wood is sourced from sustainable European forests
- By the end of 2020 they aim to eliminate the use of the four plastics; PVC, PU, ABS & PS by replacing them with environmentally friendly options
- Gollinest & Kiesel have built schools in developing countries such as Mali, Peru and Uganda. The children in these developing countries would have previously worked in mines, whereas now they have the opportunity to gain an education. They do not agree to child labour and are proud that all their toys are made for children to enjoy, none are made by children.
- The GoKi plant in China has western standards in terms of occupational health and safety and employees receive salaries much higher than average.
Little Tots Toys "Top Pick"
We absolutely love the nature ranges, as they don’t use any dyes but instead a thermal process to colour the wood. This gives a fantastic contrast of light and dark wood.
Our top pick (slightly biased from my families farming background) has to be the Goki Nature tractor. I don’t think we’ve met a child who doesn’t like a big tractor so we know that they’ll love playing with this natural wooden version.
