OUR STORY

DID YOU KNOW? OUR BRAND NAME CAME FROM GEORGES’ SON WHEN HE WAS 7

In the mid 1990’s after completing work on the French side of the channel tunnel project, Georges Le Van rewarded himself with an Austin Healey and moved to leafy Surrey, England with his wife. Knowing that Georges was a resourceful man, a neighbour enlisted his help as he was struggling to picture how some alterations to his house might look. Georges went home and designed a miniature wooden house in his garden shed. The neighbour was delighted. Quickly the little house became a popular plaything with Georges’ sons and their school friends. Soon people began to ask where they could buy one and so the idea of making them for sale was born. Georges started his search for someone to help get them made, driving all the way to the world famous Nuremberg Toy Fair. With no ticket to the show and no money for a hotel he camped out in the car park going into the show each day as a visitor, carrying his dolls house under his arm. It took over a year until our meticulous founder had a sample he was happy with and then came the next challenge – finding the money to place the order. Georges decided to sell his pride and joy - his Austin Healey - to fund the very first batch of Le Toy Van dolls houses, back in 1995.

Today the close descendant of that original dolls house, an all-time best seller, is still in our range – as Sophie’s doll house.

The Magic of Play