Bayreuth is a town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 1194. In the 21st century, it is the capital of Upper Franconia and has a population of 72,148 (2015). It hosts the annual Bayreuth Festival, at which performances of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner are presented.
A Teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy bear, named after President Theodore Roosevelt, became a popular children's toy and has been celebrated in story, song, and film.
A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pets. Toys can provide utilitarian benefits, including physical exercise, cultural awareness, or academic education. Additionally, utilitarian objects, especially those which are no longer needed for their original purpose, can be used as toys. Examples include children building a fort with empty cereal boxes and tissue paper spools, or a toddler playing with a broken TV remote control. The term "toy" can also be used to refer to utilitarian objects purchased for enjoyment rather than need, or for expensive necessities for which a large fraction of the cost represents its ability to provide enjoyment to the owner, such as luxury cars, high-end motorcycles, gaming computers, and flagship smartphones.
Beanie Babies are a line of stuffed toys created by American businessman Ty Warner, who founded Ty Inc. in 1986. The toys are stuffed with plastic pellets ("beans") rather than conventional soft stuffing. They come in many different forms, mostly animals.
A stuffed toy is a toy doll with an outer fabric sewn from a textile and stuffed with flexible material. They are known by many names, such as plush toys, plushies, stuffed animals, and stuffies; in Britain and Australia, they may also be called soft toys or cuddly toys. The stuffed toy originated from the Steiff company of Germany in the late 19th century and gained popularity following the creation of the teddy bear in the United States in 1903. At the same time, German toy inventor Richard Steiff designed a similar bear. In 1903, Peter Rabbit was the first fictional character to be made into a patented stuffed toy. In 1921, Christopher Robin's stuffed toy, given to him by his father, A. A. Milne, would inspire the creation of Winnie-the-Pooh. In the 1970s, London-based Hamleys, the world's oldest toy store, bought the rights to Paddington Bear stuffed toys. In the 1990s, Ty Warner created Beanie Babies, a series of animals stuffed with plastic pellets that were popular as collector's items.
Steiff is a German-based plush toy company, founded in 1880, with headquarters in Giengen, Germany. The company claims to have made the world's first factory-made teddy bear.
H. Ty Warner is an American billionaire toy manufacturer, businessman, and convicted felon. He is the CEO, sole owner and co-founder of Ty Inc. which manufactures and distributes stuffed toys, including Beanie Babies and other lines. He is also the owner of Four Seasons Hotel New York, which he bought with profits earned selling Beanie Babies during a fad in the late 1990s. In 2020, he was No. 359 on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America, with a net worth of US$2.3 billion.
SpVgg Bayreuth is a German football club based in Bayreuth, Bavaria. Apart from coming within two games of earning promotion to the Bundesliga in 1979, the club also reached the quarter finals of the DFB-Pokal twice, in 1977 and 1980.
Webkinz is a stuffed animal and video game franchise by the Canadian toy company Ganz. Webkinz stuffed animals have online counterparts in the video games Webkinz Classic and Webkinz Next. It was originally released by Ganz on April 15, 2005.
Gund Manufacturing Company is a Canadian-owned manufacturer of plush stuffed animals. The company is based in Edison, New Jersey, and distributes throughout the United States and Canada as well as in Europe, Japan, Australia, and South America. Gund is currently run by third generation family owner Bruce Raiffe whose grandfather Jacob Swedlin purchased the company from the original founder in 1925. Their slogan is "Gotta Getta Gund".
Ganz Midwest-CBK LLC is a Canadian soft toy and home décor company, famous for its plush animals and collectibles. They are the manufacturer of Webkinz, a toy with an interactive virtual-reality Internet site for children.
Secret Life of Toys is a 1994 children's TV series based on the 1986 Christmas TV special The Christmas Toy. Each of the fourteen 30-minute episodes consists of two 15-minute stories. The show was taped in Monheim, Germany, and aired on The Disney Channel in the US, the BBC in the United Kingdom, Family Channel, Vrak and TVO in Canada, Spacetoon in the Arab world, Top TV in South Africa, The Kids' Channel in Israel, RTB in Brunei, American Forces Network in Germany and Japan, TVP1 in Poland, Channel 55 in Bahrain and on ABC TV in Australia. The series was formerly streamed on Netflix and Hulu and is currently available on Kidoodle.TV
NICI or NICI GmbH is the name of a German toy factory based in Altenkunstadt in the north Bavarian region of Upper Franconia. The company was founded in 1986, and produces plush toys, stationery, figurines, greeting cards, pillows, water bottles, magnets, and other merchandise. Lots of their products are collectibles for children, with series of matching plush characters and school accessories. NICI produced Goleo, the mascot of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
Margarete Steiff was a German seamstress who in 1880 founded Margarete Steiff GmbH, more widely known as Steiff, a maker of toy stuffed animals.
Pillow Pets are a brand of stuffed toys with velcro straps which enable them to be converted from a decorative pillow into a stuffed animal. The toys are made from chenille. Pillow Pets were invented by Jennifer Telfer in 2003. They first gained success when Telfer personally sold the toys close to the Christmas season of that year. They would later become more successful through television advertising, where the company's slogan, "It's a pillow, it's a pet, it's a Pillow Pet!" was featured in every ad. Pillow Pets have been used for charitable fund raising.
The Simba Dickie Group is a German toy manufacturer founded in 1982 as Simba Toys. The Group is the fourth largest toy manufacturer in Germany. The company's slogan is "We love to make toys".
Teddy-Hermann GmbH is an international manufacturer of teddy bears and other plush toys based in Hirschaid, Germany. Teddy-Hermann is one of the oldest teddy bear producers in Germany. Its products are highly valued among collectors.
Albert Caasmann was a German sculptor and porcelain artist. Caasmann designed toy figures for the Berlin toy company Lineol and from 1919 to 1952 was the lead designer and production manager for the company. He designed figurines for the porcelain companies Rosenthal AG and Volkstedt. Caasmann's work for the company Rosenthal are exhibited in the Porzellanikon's Rosenthal Museum. Lineol toy figures modeled by Caasmann are in the Historical Toy Museum in Freinsheim and the Toy museum in Havelland.
YooHoo & Friends is a South Korean line of stuffed toys released by Aurora World around July 2006.
For the German actress and singer, see Renate Müller.
