Vilac
Vilac, manufacturer of wooden toys for over a century
The story begins in 1911 in the village of Moirans-en-Montagne, the French capital of toys, when Narcisse Villet created a small turning workshop called "Maison Villet".
In 1951, the Villet sons took over the small workshop, which was already well known. They created the establishments Villet Frères then in 1979 Villet Frères becomes Vilac which is the contraction of the words Villet and lacquer which colors our toys.
In 1985, Hervé Halgand bought the company Vilac and kept the tradition of wooden toys turned and lacquered.
The Vilac company developed while preserving its culture and traditions.
Hervé Halgand bought the Petitcollin company in 1995, the last and oldest French doll and bathtub factory.
In 2001, the company opened a boutique in Japan, followed in 2006 by the opening of a boutique in Paris.
In 2007, Vilac was awarded the Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant (Living Heritage Company) label and the Savoir-Faire label from the Haut-Jura Regional Natural Park.
In 2012, Vilac and Petitcollin were acquired by the France Cartes group, which already owned the Jura brand JeuJura.
In 2014, Laurent Weisbuch sold the "playing cards" part to Cartamundi, to keep Vilac, JeuJura and Petitcollin.
The three companies have the EPV label, companies of living heritage.
The Vilac quality
At Vilac, quality is one of the major pillars of our brand. It has also been recognized by the French government, which has rewarded us with the EPV label (Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant).
Since its creation in 2005, the EPV label highlights unique companies that know how to reconcile innovation and tradition, know-how and creation, work and passion, heritage and future, local and international.
This label is a mark of recognition that distinguishes our unique know-how of excellence:
- by the design of our games and toys: our creations are unique, you won't find the same thing anywhere else. The concepts, the rules of the game, the aesthetics, the packaging, everything is created in the Jura by our talented team!
- by the use of noble and durable materials, essentially lacquered wood following a unique process, which allow our toys to be transmitted from generation to generation,
- and by the batteries of tests that we make them undergo: no toy of our range sees the day if it was not certified in conformity by our quality service and by an independent test laboratory.
Toys imagined by our toy experts
All our toys are designed in our Jura Artistic Workshop, in Moirans en Montagne, by our team of passionate designers who know perfectly the world of childhood and its constraints.
They have only one limit: their imagination!
Specialized in the field of toys, concerned about quality, details and beautiful finishes, they always have in mind the safety of children and toy standards. Making children grow up through play is a key point of their creations. The quality of our toys allows children to develop their fine and global motor skills, their observation, their creativity, their spirit of analysis, the respect of the rules of the game etc...
A toy that is useless is not a Vilac toy!
A jealously guarded secret since 1911
Two ingredients are essential for our magic recipe:
- wood, wood and wood! Wood : it is chosen with care according to the technical constraints of the toy. We work mainly with beech, but also hornbeam and sometimes pine and boxwood.
All the wood used for our French production comes from sustainably managed forests (and mainly wood from the Franche-Comté region!).
- Lacquer: Vilac comes from the contraction of Villet, the name of their founder, and lacquer. This process, unique to our brand, consists of pricking the wooden pieces on nail fakir boards and immersing them entirely in lacquer, thus depositing a beautiful layer on our toys. Independent accredited laboratories regularly test our lacquers and check their compliance with the European toy standard EN71.
Toys that comply with the European EN71 standard. A mandatory step.
Before they are put on sale, all our toys, whether they are manufactured in our workshop in the Jura or "made elsewhere", systematically pass through the expert hands of our Quality Department and are controlled by independent certified laboratories (SGS, INTERTEK, EUROFINS or Bureau Veritas for example).
For safe purchases
All our toys, whether they are manufactured in France or abroad, comply with the European Toys NF-EN 71 standard, and carry the CE logo which attests to their compliance with this regulation and proves that they have been tested before being put on the market.
EN 71-1 : to check all mechanical aspects of the toy and to ensure that it is safe for children.
EN 71-2 : to check that the materials do not present any anomaly once put in contact with fire.
EN 71-3: to check that the materials used do not contain toxic materials for children.
Our commitments: the quality Vilac specialist in wooden toys
Our approach goes far beyond this already complex standard: we apply the principle of maximum precaution and we always ask the question, when developing new toys, if a particular element is not dangerous for the child. If there is the slightest doubt, we prefer to find another technical or aesthetic solution.
A requirement of follow-up and control in France and abroad
In our production workshop in France, our toys are controlled at all stages of design and manufacture.
We would prefer to produce all our toys in the Jura region but we had to adapt to the global competition so that our brand would not disappear. In order to diversify, we have therefore chosen to produce some of our toys abroad, particularly in China for ranges for which we do not have the know-how in France.
Quality also applies to the choice of workshops and factories with which we collaborate. More than just suppliers, they are true partners with whom we have maintained a relationship of trust for more than twenty years in some cases.
Our quality requirements and the tests systematically carried out by independent laboratories are exactly the same as those we carry out in France.
From Vilac.com
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