Brio (stylized BRIO) is a wooden toy company founded in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The company was founded in the small town of Boalt,

Scania Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

Götaland Götaland (; also '' Gothia'', ''Gothland'', ''Gothenland'' or ''Gautland'') is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises ten provinces. Geographically it is located in the south of Sweden, bounded to the north by Svealand, with the deep wo ...

in 1884 by basket maker Ivar Bengtsson. For a long time the company was based in Osby, Scania, in southern Sweden. In 1908 Ivar's three sons took the company over and gave it the name "BRIO", which is an acronym for: BRöderna ('the brothers') Ivarsson (in) Osby. In 2006 BRIO moved its headquarters to

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

, Scania. It is best known for its wooden toy trains, sold in Europe since 1958.

Lekoseum

In 1984, the company started the BRIO Lekoseum (from Swedish "leka", to play), a toy

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

featuring the company's products and those of other companies (such as Barbie dolls and

Märklin Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin (stylized as ma̋rklín) (MÄRKLIN or MAERKLIN in capital letters) is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg. Although it originally specialis ...

model railways), at the headquarters in Osby. Children can play with many of the toys. Since the late summer of 2014 the museum has been run as an independent foundation, hence the official name is now only Lekoseum.

Products

BRIO is best known for its wooden toy trains, sold in Europe since 1958. Most are non-motorized and suitable for younger children. The cars connect with magnets and are easy to manipulate; in recent years, the range has been extended with battery powered, remote control, and 'intelligent track'-driven engines. BRIO licenses ''

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' is a British children's television series which aired from 9 October 1984 to 20 January 2021. Based on ''The Railway Series'' books by Wilbert Awdry and his son Christopher, the series was developed for television by Brit ...

'' wooden trains in some parts of Europe, but

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company headquartered in El Segundo, California. Founded in Los Angeles by Harold Matson and the husband-and-wife duo of Ruth Handler, ...

holds the ''Thomas the Tank Engine'' license in the United States. Many competitors, such as

Whittle Shortline Wooden toy trains are toy trains that run on a wooden track system with grooves to guide the wheels of the rolling stock. While the trains, tracks and scenery accessories are made mainly of wood, the engines and cars connect to each other usin ...

, make products that are compatible with BRIO. BRIO also sells BRIO-Mec construction kits. Long, thin wooden slats with evenly spaced holes are connected together with various fasteners made of colorful plastic. Young children can build sturdy and elaborate constructions. BRIO also sold ''

Theodore Tugboat ''Theodore Tugboat'' is a Canadian children's television series about an anthropomorphic tugboat named Theodore who lives in the Big Harbour with all of his friends. The show, which aired from 1993 to 2001, originated (and is set) in Halifax, N ...

'' toys. Released were the tugboats, the Dispatcher, Benjamin Bridge, Chester the Container Ship, and Barrington and Bonavista barges. These toys were discontinued in 2000, a year before the show was cancelled. During the 1960s BRIO manufactured dollhouses and dollhouse furniture. Some of this furniture is highly sought after by collectors as it comprises miniature replicas of items by Danish designer

Arne Jacobsen Arne Emil Jacobsen, Honorary Fellowship of the American Institute of Architects, Hon. FAIA (; 11 February 1902 – 24 March 1971) was a Danish architect and furniture designer. He is remembered for his contribution to functionalism (architec ...

. Pieces include the 'egg' chair, the 'series 7' chair, and the 'swan' couch. Additionally, the

Alga Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular microalgae, suc ...

subsidiary was one of five companies who at one time produced the physical skill game '' Crossbows and Catapults''.

Recent company history

In 1983, BRIO acquired the Swedish game manufacturer ''Alga'', originally founded as a subsidiary of Pressbyrån in 1917. Plantoys of Thailand had a joint venture with BRIO in 2001-2002, being present in the Brio catalogs of the time. In 2004, the Swedish

investment company An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under th ...

Proventus became the major shareholder of Brio with more than 40% of the votes. In the same year BRIO of Sweden moved most of its production to three factories in

Guangdong Province ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, China. The "Financial Statement January — December 2008" presented on February 17, 2009 speaks of financial problems concerning the company's liquidity. On the 11th of March 2009 the company stated "BRIO financially reconstructed — shareholders’ equity strengthened by more than SEK 300 million". BRIO was acquired by the Ravensburger Group on January 8, 2015.

References

External links

BRIO corporate homepage
– ''links to BRIO web sites in several countries and languages'' * A
www.lekoseum.se
you will find the toy museum "Lekoseum" in Osby until 2014 known as "BRIO Lekoseum".

– ''links to other companies that make wooden trains that work with BRIO'' *

at the FundingUniverse website with information on the American market entry. {{DEFAULTSORT:Brio Toy train manufacturers Manufacturing companies of Sweden Toy companies of Sweden Manufacturing companies established in 1884 Wooden toys Purveyors to the Court of Sweden Swedish companies established in 1884 Companies based in Malmö Osby Municipality 19th-century establishments in Kristianstad County