PlanToys: Interview with Toy Expert Rudy Valenta
PlanToys is an eco-conscious toy company that creates wooden playthings that are inspired by classic play patterns and artistic endeavors such as color sorting and pattern-making. From Victorian-style dollhouses to drums and mini-golf and pinball sets, PlanToys makes only high-quality products. Building blocks and wood-based puzzles make up most of the brand’s offerings.
Rudy Valenta, VP of Americas, recently discussed the company and more via an exclusive interview.
Meagan Meehan (MM): How did you initially get interested in the toy industry?
Rudy Valenta (RV): It was a bit of luck and good timing. My parents started a toy company from the basement of our childhood home. I witnessed them build a company and brand from the ground up. From their grittiness and entrepreneurial spirit, I learned firsthand what it takes to run a small business. I was able to help out during my high school and college years, but I never intended to join the toy industry, nor did I have an interest in the industry at the time. My parents were a part of it, and I never thought about it too much. After working at my first job for a few months after graduating from university, my mom called me up and asked if I would quit my job to help my dad at the family company. That sparked my interest in the toy industry and started my career in toys that I have today.
MM: How did you come to work with PlanToys?
RV: After working for my parents for close to a decade, I felt it was my time to learn from other industry leaders and work for different brands to gain more experience. I worked for various brands, including a Japanese brand that sold baby products that I helped launch in the US. I connected with Kosin Virapornsawan, PlanToys’ managing director at an industry conference. A few months after meeting, an opportunity at PlanToys opened up, and I have been here ever since. PlanToys is a company that I have always looked up to and admired since I first started in the toy industry. It is known globally within the industry for its sustainable manufacturing, product design, and transparency. I feel lucky every day to be a part of such a great organization.
MM: What is it about wooden toys, per se, that makes them so timeless and special?
RV: That’s a great question. I would say it is the material that every child and adult is familiar with. Wood, in all its variations, is one of the first materials in history used to create toys. Almost everyone has played with a wooden toy. The texture of wood can bring back memories of childhood joy. It smoothens and gets a patina from our oils, and it wears over the years during play. Being a hard material, wood can be considered warm and soft after years of loving play. When I think “toy,” an image of wooden blocks comes to mind. I would argue many have that same image in their head for toy, too. They are the quintessential toy, in my opinion.
MM: How does Plan Toys come up with the designs for their products?
RV: We have a spectacular team of designers at PlanToys who work with childcare experts to help ensure that our toys are not only fun but developmentally appropriate and teach children through play. Not everyone can tell from looking at our product line how rigorous our design process is. As a sustainable toy manufacturer, one of our jobs is to design toys that will last and be passed from child to child. Before designing any toy, we ask ourselves if it is necessary to make it and if it will teach a child to be a better member of society for the greater good. We don’t want to design toys that are fads and will end up in landfills. We won’t produce a toy that will only be popular for one year, no matter how many we can sell. It has to be a product that we believe can be a part of a circular economy and teach children. After all, our mission is Better Kids, Better World through Sustainable Play.
MM: You sell classics like blocks, but other toys have puzzle elements that are quite abstract. How do those more artistic toys influence cognitive growth?
RV: It helps children think outside of the box. Their frontal lobe’s neural circuits will be firing off as they take in the information about the puzzle, trying to figure out how it works, how to solve it, if there are more solutions to the puzzle than just one, and so much more. Puzzles teach problem-solving through trial and error, but most importantly, through PLAY. One thing our team is always impressed with is how children think and see the world differently. Too often, we design a toy with an intended way to play, but when testing with children, they show us dozens of ways to use the toy that we never imagined. Their feedback helps us iterate on the original design to improve the final product. With the right tools and toys, a child’s cognitive growth will increase exponentially through play.
MM: Out of all of the products, have any been especially popular with customers?
RV: Over the years, there have been so many. I call them our classics, as you see them everywhere and in almost every toy store. Currently, I would say our Rainbow Alligator, Balancing Cactus, and Beehives are our go-to fan favorites. Our Victorian Dollhouse is the “It” dollhouse for families, and our Wonky Fruits and Vegetables are the pretend-play food set that parents reach for to show children that there is no right or wrong shape in which fruits and vegetables can grow.
MM: What kinds of feedback have you gotten about Plan Toys?
RV: We get all kinds of feedback — most often, it is about how much joy a product has brought a child and how our customers wished that all toy companies had business practices like ours. My favorite kind of feedback and outreach from customers is when they find a PlanToys item at a yard sale or receive a toy passed down from family and friends. Usually, the product is about 5–10 years old and missing a part. They reach out with photos of the product, and sure enough, we have the missing part that they are looking for to complete the set, and it gives new life to the toy for years and years of play for their kids. And hopefully, it gets passed down again once they outgrow it.
MM: How do you hope the company evolves over the next five years?
RV: I hope we continue to push and lead other manufacturers to be sustainable and make foundational changes to their manufacturing process for impactful change. Our big goal is to be the first global toy manufacturer that is carbon neutral by 2025. We have been working on this goal for some time, and the finish line is in sight. To achieve carbon neutrality, we had to calculate our carbon footprint, including the carbon footprint of every one of our products. You can now see the product’s carbon footprint on all of our packaging. We hope this becomes the norm and the “nutrition label” for non-consumable products that consumers look at before purchasing.
MM: What has been the best thing about working in the toy industry so far?
RV: The community! The toy industry is a tight-knit community. For a product category that every person in the world uses and interacts with at some point in their life, the industry that supports it is not as big as one may think. This creates a wonderful and supportive global community that is inclusive and looks out for each other. Our community is one big family that gets to play with toys every day as our careers.
MM: What projects are coming up for you soon and is there anything else that you would like to discuss?
RV: A project I am most excited about that is launching this spring is the PlanToys My PlanFamily dollhouse figure series. With our dollhouse figures, we will have grandparents, adults, and children in 4 different skin tones and hair color/style combinations so that children, along with their families, can buy the figures that represent their family the way they see it. From mixed race, single parent, LGBTQ, only child to multiple siblings and friends, to including grandparents — we want children to build their pretend play dollhouse family as they see it at home. Our dolls will be able to be purchased in-store at your favorite local toy store and online at PlanToys.com. Each family that you build will come with a PlanFamily take-home box that looks like our Victorian Dollhouse.
