• manufacturer/type:

Renate Müller

• designer, year:

Renate Müller, 1969

• material:
Jute & Leather, each of Müllers animals is made with an acute attention to quality and durability; they are hand filled with natural materials and individually sewn by Müller.

• measurements:

• cm x • cm x • cm

• condition:

Nice original vinatge condition, with some minor user marks consisting with age.

• background:

The toys Renate Müller designed during the sixties were rewarded the ‘Good Design’ distinction by the office of Industrial Design in East Germany in the 70s.

From july 29 till october 2 2012 the hippopotamus was featured in the exhibition ‘Century of the child’ at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

• literature:
R 20th century / Whitehouse Media
Renate Müller: Toys + Design

front cover and page 32


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beautiful vintage therapeutic Renate Müller toy animal

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© Salonfähig, 2013

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Renate Müller began designing and producing toys in the early 1960s as part of an endeavor launched by Helene Haeusler at the Sonneberg Technical College for Toy Design in Sonneberg, Germany. Haeusler wanted to produce large, bright, exceptionally made toy animals that could be used in a therapeutic setting for mentally and physically handicapped children. The toys were used for balance training and orthopedic exercise as well as for sensory exercises and hand-eye coordination.
Müller, trained in toy design and working as a designer for the H. Josef Leven Company, brought Haeusler's ideas into production. The toys debuted at the Leipzig Trade Fair in 1967 and continued annually. The toys were tested by psychiatric hospitals and clinics throughout Germany and proved hugely successful. Each year Müller added new animals and objects to the collection.
In 1990, Renate Müller took over the rights to her designs and continues to hand-produce very limited quantities of the classic designs as well as new designs. source: http://www.r20thcentury.com/biography_detail.cfm?designer_id=38