Special Feature - Curious Universe

Curiouser and curiouser…

Curious Universe CEO John Styring tells Sam Giltrow how the company has found its feet during the pandemic and about its plans to increase its presence in the toy arena.

It’s hard to believe that Curious Universe has only been in existence for five years. The company’s meteoric rise has seen it grow from a team of 30 employees to 80 in the last 18 months alone, with product selling to over 43 countries and over 500 new products created each year. Interestingly, many of these achievements have come off the back of the pandemic.

However, while global expansion is a key focus for the company’s growth strategy, co-founder and CEO John Styring maintains that it’s the smaller, yet perfectly formed, size of the business which enables Curious Universe to be so nimble and react quickly to the developing marketplace. “We can listen to what customers want and get ranges into production quickly,” he tells Toy World.

John and his wife and creative director, Briony Britten, launched the consumer products business in Bath in November 2017, in collaboration with Australian-based publisher Hinkler. The couple had previously built up Igloo Books, which they sold to a rival publisher in 2014.

Curious Universe has four sectors: toys, arts & crafts, books and stationery, with arts & crafts currently making up around half of the revenue. This year, its rapid growth and achievements were recognised when it was listed in The Sunday Times 100 list of fastest growing companies, and the team was delighted to be crowned SME Business of the Year at the Bath Business Awards 2022.

John is rightly proud of where Curious Universe is right now and says the Bath Business Award fits with the aim of the business to build a profile locally, so it can attract more creative people to the team - as well as raising its profile as it takes bigger steps into the toy arena. “Toys is forecast to be our biggest growth area by far, and we are forecasting a quadrupling of revenue over the next two years,” he states. “We have got off to a good start in the last couple of years with a growing number of products in our toy division. Jigsaw puzzles has been particularly successful for us, selling 1.25m last year alone.”

Now, Curious Universe has set its sights on launching a new games division in Q4 2023 and moving into licensed product. John explains: “What we are really excited about is three new product ranges that we have earmarked for 2023. A Curious Universe games division within the toy section will be focused on sustainable board games aimed at younger children. We have also spent a lot of energy on creating two new brands which we will be previewing over the next couple of months and launching at London Toy Fair in January. At the moment, I can’t say much about them other than that they both offer a uniqueness.”

Curious Universe has also secured a number of licences and is just finalising agreements with Moose Toys’ Magic Mixies and Hasbro’s My Little Pony with a view to launching new products in May 2023, with further licences to be announced in due course. “Previously, we have focused very much on our own IP, so this will be a nice new growth area,” John says.

He concedes the toy market can be a hard nut to crack but says that having already worked with many retailers on books, while not necessarily dealing directly with the toy buyer, accounts were in place to enable a smooth transition into other divisions. “One of our values is ‘It’s got to be perfect’. We recognise we are never going to be completely perfect, but this does show we are very keen to get that service level right to support the customer,” adds John.

Another key phrase in Curious Universe is ‘Product, People and Production’, and John says these three strands are vital to get right to ensure the future success of the business. The company has brought in 50 new empolyees in the last 18 months alone, many of them from within the toy industry, with different ideas, backgrounds and expertise to offer. “We’ve brought all these people into our work culture, and this has been such a positive move as there’s now a real buzz here,” enthuses John. “One of our core company values is about being kind and supportive to each other. We spend a lot of energy bringing in the right people, so if they leave after a couple of months, what’s the point? We need to make sure we are supporting them.”

Curious Universe is also passionate about sustainability. “I think we all have a responsibility to look at how we are producing product, “says John. “We are also getting pressurised, and rightfully so, by our customers, who are driving that change.” The company is taking its creative Zap! Extra range from PVC to solely boardbased. John proudly states that across the 750,000 units already sold, the amount of plastic that has been taken out is equivalent to 1,883 African elephants. “We assess everything we are producing and ask if we can do it better. When we are developing new product, it’s all about how we can be much more environmentally friendly,” he says. Curious Universe holds monthly sustainable meetings and its most recent one drew in nearly half of its staff. “It’s all voluntary, and held over lunchtime, so I think that shows the passion from people within our company to make change,” he adds.

John concedes that meeting sustainability targets is an ongoing process; some ranges still contain plastic, but it has been changed to PET. There has been a move to soybased inks and the business is currently working to source environmentally friendly adhesives. It has replaced the poly bags in its jigsaws with paper ones and aims to have all its paper fully FSC-certified by 2023. John is currently trying to find a cost effective, environmentally friendly glitter. “We have banned glitter on all our products but want to go back to that look and add that excitement and sparkle to some products,” he says.

Speaking about the company’s bid for global expansion, John says the Nordics and the US are particular targets. “We have a lot of work to do but are very excited about building our international presence. It’s a major objective for the next year to grow our international toy sales and find the right partners to work with.” There are also plans to grow eCommerce sales; at present, most sales are through retailers.

John is feeling quietly confident about where Curious Universe is heading: “We are still forecasting that our overall business will grow 20-30% and so there is an ongoing, massive focus on new product development. We know it’s not easy out there right now, but we are always striving to create a really good value product, so that should stand us in good stead through what will inevitably be tougher times. We have a good spread of price points, so hopefully our lower RRP items will see good volume sales through our customers,” he concludes. “One of the highlights for 2023 will be exhibiting at London Toy Fair for the first time, so watch this space.”