Vintage therapeutic toys by Renate Müller for H. Josef Leven Kg, 1960s

Renate Müller was born in 1945 and raised in Sonneberg in Germany. Her grandfather had a small toy factory. And later her parents continued his work. Renate choose to a designer study and specializing in toy design. And of course she started her working life in her family’s toy factory. In 1967 she presented the first jute made Rhino and cube. In the next following years she designed a large group of ’therapeutic toys’ in different materials, which received also some important design awards. In the 1978 she started to work as a freelance craftswoman in her own workshop and realized a lot of playground and design solutions for kindergartens and children’s hospitals. One of Renates really basic believes wast that therapeutic design of toys only was possible when she had a deep and honest contact with children and understanding of their wishes and ways of thinking. Renate did not want to design toys for rich or healthy children only. She wanted to design towards the thinking of children meaning all children. One toy should be Able to be used by disabled, less healthy children and even in different ages. In this knowledge the use of material is as important as the design itself. Renate started to work with lots of different inlfuences, Japanese educators like Tadashi Tsujii, kindergarten creators, doctors and health care specialists. Generally, the role of toys in early childhood development is actually forever, also in the future, according to Renate. The effects reach far beyond childhood and into adulthood. Well-designed, real objects for children as toys are not to be replaced in our technical and digital world! “Good toy – good childhood” is Renate’s slogan. It is the basis for a good understanding of the real world, of the management of tasks in the present and future, and of a satisfied and grounded human life. The giraffe and cone are early pieces from the 1970s and in good condition! As a toy it is an amazingly great design. As design it is an amazingly collectors item to show in any interior. Reference : 278048