Hans Beck (toy developer)

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Hans Beck (born May 6, 1929 in Greiz ; † January 30, 2009 in Markdorf ) was the inventor of the Playmobil toy , which is why he was or is often referred to as the "father of Playmobil".

Life

Childhood and youth

Beck grew up in Greiz in Thuringia as the eldest son of a self-employed businessman and was already building small vehicles and figures for his younger siblings when he was ten. He began an apprenticeship as a carpenter with an acquaintance of his father's. Then in 1948 he fled the Soviet occupation zone to the West and finished his apprenticeship as a carpenter at a company in Bamberg .

Career in the company

Through his hobby - model airplanes - was Horst Brandstätter , owner of the company Geobra Brandstätter in Zirndorf, aware of him. He hired him as a developer in 1958.

In 1971/72 Beck became head of development at Geobra. Beck introduced Brandstätter to a toy system with small plastic figures: a construction worker, a knight and an Indian. Brandstätter allowed him to develop the product. Beck's figures became posable (in contrast to e.g. tin soldiers ), uncomplicated, fit in a child's hand, and the face resembled that of a child's drawing (large head, smile, no nose).

Due to the 1973 oil crisis , plastics had become significantly more expensive. Therefore, at the end of 1973, Brandstätter changed its product range ( hula hoops and large plastic toys) in favor of small plastic figures. Beck built a set of samples for the Nuremberg Toy Fair in February 1974; In the fall of 1974, geobra had already turned over three million D-Marks with it.

The company commissioned Beck to develop a complete series. A system of adaptable toys with interchangeable parts opened up unlimited possibilities for combinations and expansion. In 1975 they started exporting to other countries. Beck's motto was "no horror, no violence, no short-term trends". His announcement that jumbo jets, aliens and dinosaurs would never become Playmobil themes was not fulfilled - these are now available too.

Last years and death

In 1998 Beck retired, shortly before the 25th anniversary of his invention.

At the Expo 2000 in Hanover , Beck was one of the 100 Germans who were honored with a statue in the German pavilion.

After his retirement he lived in Markdorf on Lake Constance until his death in 2009 . His obituary was adorned with a Playmobil knight figure. Around 1.5 billion Playmobil figures had been produced by the time he died.

literature

  • Bernd Lorenz, Ulrike Lotze: From pen to legend. 22 historical personalities from the trade. 1st edition. Handicraft publishing house, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86950-089-8

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Felicitas Bachmann: 30 years of Playmobil. Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2004, ISBN 3-89880-251-5 , p. 38ff.
  2. Playmobil inventor comes from Thuringia ( Memento of the original from June 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , MDR @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mdr.de