toy town
Not far from the fun-packed beaches of the Costa Blanca lies a little town called Ibi dedicated to a different kind of fun: t he making of toys!
BY OWAIN THOMAS
Once upon a time, a visit to Ibi would have topped every child’s wish-list. Not only was this mountainside town, about 40km north of Alicante, the fabled headquarters of seasonal gift-givers the Three Kings, it was also the heart of a booming toy industry. It would have been in 1905, to be exact, when Ibi’s production of juguetes (toys) officially fired up alongside an existing pleasure-based industry – making ice cream – that most children would have voted this little town heaven on earth and a must-go destination whatever the cost.
While kids today are more used to searching the web for their wants, there remain good reasons to get worked up about the toy town of Spain: it still produces over 60% of all Spanish-made toys and it has kept its playful heritage alive with a fascinating toy museum. Today, over a hundred years since it began, visitors of all ages come to Ibi to discover a time when toys were made to last – and ice cream was made by gods.
Taking pride of place next to the town’s 12th-century church, the Valencian Toy Museum (www.museojuguete.com) in Ibi lives within a historic townhouse known as the Casa Gran. Donated to the local authorities on the condition that a girls’ school be included in any renovations, the toy museum is today fittingly serenaded by the twice-daily playtimes of the adjoining primary school (now mixed).
And, of course, it’s packed to the rafters with antique samples from the town’s three original toy factories, as well as unique samples from across the globe. After a brief meeting with the museum’s co-ordinator, Pilar Avilés Valls, I realise just how packed.
Sitting at a small desk, bowed under the weight of vintage teapots and figurines, and surrounded by a mini-library of collectors’ manuals and toy reference books, Pilar says that an up-size has been on the cards since they opened in 1990. The plan was to move into the vacant Payá Brothers’ factory, Ibi’s original toy manufacturer, but someone must have thrown their toys out of the pram at the idea because the museum never moved.
Apart from the rather cramped conditions in her office, Pilar assures me that this isn’t such a bad thing. In fact, activity inside the museum hasn’t paused for breath in years. In the first half of 2008 alone, nearly 16,000 visitors marvelled at the intimate and informative exhibition.
Given the size of the museum and its international popularity, large groups are broken down into manageable numbers on arrival and, if pre-booked, can pick up a multi-lingual guide. And, while the majority of the museum’s visitors are school children from all over Spain and Europe (over 65%), the history certainly appeals to all. On the day I’m visiting, for example, a large crowd of young-at-heart pensioners are jostling through the front door on what, Pilar explains, is a jolly organised by Alicante’s town hall. She points out that most of them will remember these toys from the first time around. I’m sure she’s right, judging by the childlike whoops of joy and excited pointing.
Categorised in to nine sections (cinema, mechanisms, rural and natural worlds, planes and boats, trains, speed, the city, musical instruments, the home), the colossal output of Ibi’s original toymaker features proudly alongside the cream of classic Japanese, German, French and British-made toys.
And, just like the town’s production of ice cream, this was an output with roots in the fishing industry. While the ice scraped off nearby mountains sometimes exceeded the amount needed for the fish-packing industry and ended its life in heavenly ice cream, so the excess tin used to pack the ice was turned first into household ornaments and then intricately fashioned toys.
The rest, as Ibi’s mayoress would say, is history. “The town wouldn’t be what it is today without the toys, whose continued production is down to the work of its dedicated and proud citizens,” she says.
Barring a break during World War II, when global tin supplies were stretched, the production of toys has continued uninterrupted, carrying the entertaining legacy of a little town with a young heart into the present day. Just remember to ask about the ice cream when you get there.
toy trivia
- The word “Toy” comes from an old English word that means “tool”.
- It takes 19.2m of wire to make a SLINKY!
- According to a Filipino expression, the word YO-YO means “come come”. The yo-yo is apparently the second-oldest toy in the world (the oldest being dolls).
- Speaking of dolls, two BARBIE dolls are sold every second somewhere in the world! Barbie was introduced in 1959 and her full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts.
- Remember MR POTATO HEAD? His plastic body wasn’t introduced until 12 years after all the other bits, so kids had to use, you guessed it, real potatoes until then!
- PLAY-DOH’s original purpose was to clean wallpaper!
- Its ingredients remain a secret.
- The name LEGO comes from “leg godt” – which is Danish for “play well”.
