SIO (1938 Vroomshoop - 1984 Vroomshoop The Netherlands)
SIO (Speelgoed Industrie Overijssel) was a producer of children's toys. The SIO factory was founded in 1938 and was located in Vroomshoop. The sales office was located at in Herengracht 25 in Amsterdam. Industrial and graphic designer Rokus van Blokland (1926-2018) and his wife Corry van Blokland-Mobach (1929) designed wooden toys like trucks, garages, doll houses, puzzles and all kinds of construction sets for SIO. Their designs had a pedagogical background ("playing is learning") in which shape and color were of great importance. Designs are included in the permanent collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The designer duo worked for SIO from 1950 to 1980 and built up a collection that is unique to the Netherlands.
In the 1950s, SIO made wooden grocery stores and later fabric shops, complete with 'bales of fabric'. In the 1970s, shops (boutiques) for teenage dolls appeared. In September 1982 the factory in Vroomshoop burned down. After the fire, the production of a number of articles was temporarily continued in other places. In 1984 the activities under the name SIO came to a definite end.
Rokus van Blokland was born in Schoonhoven in 1926. He died in 2018 at age 91 in Gouda. Besides being an industrial and graphic designer, Rokus van Blokland also was a teacher at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten Den Haag - KABK). Photo credit: Ron van Blokland, 2011.
Literature
Book: Made in Holland, Nederlands Fabrikaat Speelgoed 1932-1970 (E. W. Augustijn-Beckers, Tilburg, 2007).
SIO (Speelgoed Industrie Overijssel) was a producer of children's toys. The SIO factory was founded in 1938 and was located in Vroomshoop. The sales office was located at in Herengracht 25 in Amsterdam. Industrial and graphic designer Rokus van Blokland (1926-2018) and his wife Corry van Blokland-Mobach (1929) designed wooden toys like trucks, garages, doll houses, puzzles and all kinds of construction sets for SIO. Their designs had a pedagogical background ("playing is learning") in which shape and color were of great importance. Designs are included in the permanent collection of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The designer duo worked for SIO from 1950 to 1980 and built up a collection that is unique to the Netherlands.
In the 1950s, SIO made wooden grocery stores and later fabric shops, complete with 'bales of fabric'. In the 1970s, shops (boutiques) for teenage dolls appeared. In September 1982 the factory in Vroomshoop burned down. After the fire, the production of a number of articles was temporarily continued in other places. In 1984 the activities under the name SIO came to a definite end.
Rokus van Blokland was born in Schoonhoven in 1926. He died in 2018 at age 91 in Gouda. Besides being an industrial and graphic designer, Rokus van Blokland also was a teacher at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague (Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten Den Haag - KABK). Photo credit: Ron van Blokland, 2011.
Literature
Book: Made in Holland, Nederlands Fabrikaat Speelgoed 1932-1970 (E. W. Augustijn-Beckers, Tilburg, 2007).
SIO (Speelgoed Industrie Overijssel)
1938 (Vroomshoop, The Netherlands)
1984 (Vroomshoop, The Netherlands)
Manufacturer of wooden toys and games
1938 (Vroomshoop, The Netherlands)
1984 (Vroomshoop, The Netherlands)
Manufacturer of wooden toys and games
