Job profile! Toy maker in Brittany: making the world a better place as a social entrepreneur

In the Breton town of Saint-Brieuc Dominique Bébin, children and adults alike learn how to build and paint their own puzzles, sailing boats, pen holders, cars or articulated animal figures. But Dominique doesn't just want to tinker, but Die Welt do a little better. One Idea, which made him famous far beyond the borders of Brittany and even abroad.

One learns best in practice

Those who take a course with Dominique first choose a model and then start with a pencil sketch to finally cut, machine and assemble the parts with appropriate machines - all under the vigilant of course Eyes the supervisor.

"The best way to learn the right handles is in practice!" Says Dominique, who also ensures that every part is smoothed and polished in the end. A real perfectionist.

Toy builders are not a protected profession

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He has been a true autodidact himself, he has no craft education. In France, too, there is a kind of craftwork, according to which workshops can normally only be run by masters.

Dominique, however, practices an artistic activity for which there are no regulations: “There are toy makers Job just not”, he explains mischievously his back door.

Loyal customers who come for years

Of course, complicated toys do not have the three hours required for a simple course. I just make a ring-catching game at this time.

Many children come often, often for years just like others, just as sports, as Dominique proudly tells, and every child has his own, hand-made toolbox.

Do-it-yourself courses boom

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At first he wanted toys merchandise. But a little market research showed him that there was little chance because of the cheap wooden toys from China. Instead, Dominique jumped successfully to the do-it-yourself trend.

His courses, however, made him well known all over Brittany: he did exhibitions, writes for trade journals and gave lectures at conferences and congresses. He has just returned from a conference in Nice.

Communication is his profession

In addition, his museum and the square in front of it is itself an event location: Discussion forums, music festivals and exhibitions take place here, such as the recent one Ms. in Brittany.

CommunicationYou can tell right away that Dominique's profession is. It can therefore often be heard on local radio and TV stations. Over 700 newspaper articles have already appeared through his studio.

Marketing with internet and word of mouth

As a Marketingchannel he also uses the Internet and place newspaper ads. “But most come by word of mouth.”

His workshopConcept, where children keep coming back and new things Things to Learn can is in France unique. Regular visitors therefore come here from a radius of 50 kilometers.

Carry the idea to those who can not come by themselves

But Dominique wants to carry his idea to those who can not come to him, for example to the prison, where the prisoners can make toys for their families. The idea came to him because he used to sing also in women's prisons:

"I love doing that, it's very touching," he says. Visiting terminally ill children is much harder for him: “I then take the workshop to the hospital and the children do handicrafts there. This is very bad because the children know they have to die, ”he suddenly looks pretty sad.

From the beginning also social contractors

He has the social entrepreneurial approach to his Foundation followed from the beginning: "That's my style," he says simply and a little embarrassed. You can tell what drives him is to pass on his enthusiasm:

He also works with handicapped children, young people with a migration background or from difficult social conditions.

International notoriety

He was recently in Morocco and has a there Projects made with street kids: “I taught them how to make toys that they then merchandise can." The machines and tools he left there were funded by donations.

He has also received inquiries from Senegal and Peru and corresponding projects in Planning. Dominique would also like to giveCourses in Germany. It turns out: What sounds like a lovable whim is actually a thriving little one Company with a social entrepreneurial approach, which incidentally preserves a piece of cultural history.

Artist with love for wood

Dominique was originally an artist, played theater, sang, played various musical instruments or made stage sets. "I did a lot of jobs," he says with a smile.

His grandfather, who was a lumberjack and often took him into the forest, gave him the love of wood. And so Dominique, who has four children himself, started 18 years ago to collect old wooden toys.

Real cultural treasures

He was not interested in products from the toy factories, but also in family pieces, which a grandfather for his grandson, for example.

Some hundred years old are his exhibits in part. Behind every toy is a story that Dominique is all too fond of telling.

The Tourism Office support its museum

When he had 450 pieces together, he came up with the idea of ​​making a museum from the collection. In the newspaper he discovered an English ship from the 50ers, which was in a desolate condition and no longer drives. Therefore Dominique could acquire it for 3.000 Euro.

“Because the museum is on the water, we don't pay Taxes” explains Dominique. Only the berth in the port of Le Légué in Saint-Brieuc is of course expensive. “Today, the tourismOffice from Saint-Brieuc at the Financing. "

10.000 working hours and 20.000 Euro

Nevertheless, the maintenance of the ship is not a cheap pleasure: Dominique invested over 10.000 working hours and over 20.000 euros after the purchase alone and renovated the ship in seven years. During renovation, he started giving courses in wooden toy making to fund the cause.

Today he runs three workshops

Dominique not only opened a toy museum on the boat, but also, before 10, a small workshop, the Atelier Régional du Bois Ludik, where he occasionally gave classes. But soon the demand was so great that he opened a larger workshop a few meters away.

Today he runs a total of three workshops that enable him to run several courses in parallel. "I never expected the idea to be so well received," he says.

The students also learn a lot about woodworking

His course participants not only learn how to build toys, but also learn how wood is felled or processed. "In the workshop," says Dominique, "only wood from Brittany, where there are 15-20 different types of wood".

And the workshop also has to meet EU ecological standards, for example using filter systems for dust or water-soluble paints and varnishes: "But we don't paint most of the toys, that's much nicer," explains the workshop operator.

He found his employee by chance

He no longer runs his company alone: ​​Because his idea was such a great success, he soon had to hire an employee: Sylvia Guichard, a former one Art– and history teacher, came to him by accident nine years ago, like so much of Dominique's life. "I was actually looking for a man to help me in the workshop," explains Dominique mischievously.

Contrary to expectations, Sylvia has stayed to this day. “I taught her everything. Today she runs most of the children's courses and takes care of them Accounting, which he has nothing to do with,” says the toy maker.

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