Playmobil : le créateur Horst Brandstätter est mort

Obituaryfor PLAYMOBIL head Horst Brandstätter 27 June 1933 – 03 June 2015 His idea revolutionised the toy market and put smiles on children’s faces all around the world. PLAYMOBIL head Horst Brandstätter died on 3 June 2015 at the age of 81years. Children knew him as ‘Mr Playmobil’, but to most of his employees he was simply ‘HOB’. Right to the end, when he was at home in Zirndorf in Bavaria, Horst Brandstätter came into the office every day. His company – geobra Brandstätter Stiftung & Co. KG, manufacturer of the toy classic PLAYMOBIL – was his passion and his life’s work. He entered the family business in 1952, aged 19, and trained as a mould maker. His two uncles were managing the company at the time. It was not long until he realised that the machines and working methods were out of date. He was only 21 when, as a joint shareholder, he therefore began to promote innovation within the company. Brandstätter’s aversion to the backward-looking phrase: “We’ve always done it that way” also dates back to that time. The tireless company boss had no time for such thinking, being convinced that a company and its employees must keep growing in order to be equipped for future challenges. His visionary ideas and his courage for reform soon resulted in significant economic success for the Brandstätter Company: in 1958 the production of hula hoops became a sales hit throughout Europe.