Artisan Elaboration
From the beginning of Lanco Toys, it was clear to us that we wanted to cover the entire production process of natural latex toys. This strategy has allowed Lanco Toys to learn more than anyone about latex and its properties, to develop a unique and complete knowledge of production techniques and, above all, to ensure the excellent quality of our products. Therefore, the experience of Lanco Toys goes from the development of the design, the creation of molds and ending with the decoration of the toy.
Lanco Toys knows that the essence of our toys is its human factor and that each step of our production process is the result of purely artisan work.
1. Design
The first step is the imagination of our designers to come up with a new and original design. Our creative team is highly experienced in designing development layouts to meet the high expectations of our clients. We continue to challenge the market by experimenting with new colors, shapes and textures. The result is unique designs that have been repeatedly awarded throughout our history.
2. Clay prototype
Now is the time to give our drawing a 3D shape. Using clay, a first prototype is created. This sample will go through various changes and modifications until the entire team agrees on a detailed final prototype.
3. Rubber prototype
Mold making is the next step! With the help of our plasticine prototype we create the plaster molds: first a plaster pattern mold is created from which the rest of the molds will be created. The molds are allowed to dry and solidify in a warm, humidity-free space.
4. Pouring of liquid latex
Now we color the liquid latex through a pigmentation process where it is colored with natural and non-toxic pigments. This process results in a uniformly colored latex ready to be transformed into a bright and vivid toy. The pigmented liquid latex is carefully poured into the molds. They are then left to dry in a warm area without humidity: the heat will gradually solidify the liquid latex, taking the shape of the mold and becoming a solid toy.
5. Removal of toys
The solidified liquid latex within the mold results in a natural rubber toy. Each mold is opened in two halves and the rubber toys are manually removed from the mold, carefully separating the plaster from the rubber without damaging the toy.
6. Polished and refined
The natural rubber toys taken from the mold have some imperfections caused by the manual process of solidification of the latex. These imperfections are manually removed to ensure the perfect shape of the toy. Each natural rubber toy is carefully polished and refined to provide the natural softness of natural rubber. This is a very delicate process that requires a lot of attention to avoid damaging the toy's desired shape and surface.
7. Painting
Each latex toy is hand painted by our expert craftsmen, giving our toys bright colors and a unique personality. We use food grade dyes that are completely safe to chew and mouth. Each toy is unique, like each child.
8. Fun
Our favorite part of the process! To be the chosen and favorite of babies and to be part of your lives for 70 years.