Boy oh boy. Girl oh girl. We KNOW how to play!

Yup that's me hopping on one foot. :) We just got back from the 2012 International Toy Fair in New York. We loooove showing off our new creations. And we have a B.ig one to unveil in about 4 weeks. Quite likely the coolest musical toy you've ever seen. If you've not yet signed up for our B.mails or joined us on Facebook, you will want to be among the first to know when "Symphony in B." hits the shelves. Because the first small test shipment will sell out very quickly. We just know it!

We stood on our soap boxes for 3 days and told everyone who came by about our mission to make toys that are a sea change in the industry: beautiful enough to leave out when company comes over, respectful of our planet, generous to children less fortunate than ours.

How do we do it? We love it. We care. We play.

Beyond the visible signature patterns and colors…we labor over the ‘feel’ in a child’s hand, the thickness of the plastic, the smoothness of a strap, the curve of a corner, the recyclability of our packaging, the size of the box, the meaning of each word, the kerning of the font. We really sweat these details. Wake up with them in the middle of the night! Tweak and finesse them until we have everything juuuuust right.

Where possible the toys come with self-storage (the drum holds the instruments, the clinic roof houses the tools). We hate toys that leave a pile of trash as big as the toy itself when unpackaged. And yet, when clear trash plastic is inevitable, we’ve paid extra for the most recyclable #1 PET plastic. And we've designed even the recycling symbol to be B.eautiful.

But most of all, in our heart of hearts, in that spot where we are parents first, we make open-ended toys that encourage a child’s own stories to lead the fun. That engage that most powerful engine of creativity—a child's imagination. That support and celebrate our mission: JUST B. JUST YOU. B. YOU. That trust children to know how to play.

B. happy!

—Gisela