Air castles for Children's Day

Amusement park industry and toy industry in general are wonderful but utterly missing in Romania. Romanian kids can see what an amusement park is and learn that this is where the whole family goes over the weekend to have some fun only when watching TV.

While most of the playgrounds in the cities are highly dangerous for the children, few kids may boast about having played in huge inflated castles.

A Sfantu-Ghorghe-based company manufactures huge inflatable toys, but these are not aimed for Romanian children, as they are sent to the amusement parks throughout the world.

As “Bucharest 2001” Festival, organised by Bucharest City Hall and “Pro Familia” Foundation throughout June 1-10 is ongoing, From Product wants to try to enter the Romanian market, because “our kids deserve as much as those in the West,” the company’s manager, Gabriel Kerekes says.

From Product was established in 1997, starting out as a manufacturer of furniture for kindergartens and children day-care centres from Great Britain.

“Every year, we attend international fairs in London, Paris and Nuremberg, where this kind of furniture is displayed. During the exhibition organised in London last December, our British partners from Kits for Kids met Rob Cambley, a famous British manufacturer of inflatable castles.

Rob Cambley suggested them to try to produce huge inflatable toys. The contract between Kits for Kids and Rob Cambley’s company was signed in February this year and the production started to be prepared in March,” Kerekes says.

He specified that From Product had also planned to expand its activity and manufacture toys for amusement parks.

The first inflatable castle was ready at the beginning of April. It was 7 metres long and 5 metres tall and took one week to complete.

The employees are now skilled in creating and building such a castle, which is ready in only 3 days. These are sent to amusement parks in Western Europe or other partners ordering them for particular promotion purposes.

The company plans to enter the US market this fall. “This is the largest yet most difficult market in the world, as there,” Kerekes says.

The castles have to be perfect to the last details in order to be competitive.

The computer assists all the operations, starting with the design and the calculations and ending with the tailoring.

“Any castle looks beautiful on the outside, but there is a whole technology inside, as the air should inflate the most important parts, which have to deflate easily, in order to allow folding the castle after use,” Kerekes says.

The company is currently manufacturing more than 100 types of huge toys and is delivering its products to the EU markets only, where they have to be compliant with some very rigorous standards and norms.

From Product is now testing the Romanian market. “The first step is to display the castles at the Bucharest 2001 Festival. We bet on success, as, for all we know, we are the first company trying to do this in Romania.”