Companies
Modarri cars — not just for kids
New toy company is part of the “Imagination Economy.”
Thoughtfull Toys, a new Santa Cruz company launched by longtime toy pros who have worked on dozens of successful toys and product lines, will launch its first toy line, Modarri toy cars, at American International Toy Fair in February.
The company was launched by this trio of toy inventors and professionals:
- David Silverglate – his former company, Rhino Toys, developed the successful Oball,
- Brian Gulassa – has designed over 200 toys in his 25-year career,
- Trevor Hite – is an operations specialist with over 20 years of experience in multiple fields.
According to Silverglate, “Thoughtfull Toys is part of the Imagination Economy. We add value by thinking up new stuff, designing in CAD, 3D printing models to study, and Skyping with our partners around the world. We don’t manufacture in Santa Cruz, but imagining is what we do best in Santa Cruz.”
Each modular car includes a chassis, hood/windshield, seat pan, seat, fenders and frame, hex tool, four wheels, front suspension and rear suspension. Modarri is a new kind of miniature car line that you drive with your fingers using realistic steering and suspension.
Silverglate sold Santa Cruz based Rhino Toys to Kids II Inc. in 2010 and developed new products for them through 2012. Although he could have drifted off into retirement, Silverglate wasn’t done playing and wasn’t done inventing. He assembled the Thoughtfull Toys trio and started cranking out new ideas and products.
Apparently, Modarri cars aren’t only for little kids. “We took care to design beautiful cars that teens and adults would also love and want to collect,” Silverglate said. “We love cars and often find ourselves surfing the internet for cool car designs, drooling over muscle cars, race cars, concept cars, toy cars, playing with our kids’ cars and adding to their (or our) collections. We think and hope that a lot of you are like us and never really ‘grew up.’ Our goal was to create toy cars that are sleek, gorgeous, fun, durable, drivable, buildable and interchangeable.”
A group of investors who previously backed Rhino Toys is helping the trio launch Thoughtfull Toys, but Thoughtfull Toys is also running a Kickstarter project with a goal of 80K by January 17.
Sara Isenberg
Producer, editor, curator
Santa Cruz Tech Beat – a news digest for folks who want to know and share what’s up in the Santa Cruz technology community.
Sara Isenberg curates and publishes Santa Cruz Tech Beat for the benefit of the extended business and technology community. When she is not volunteering her time for the tech scene, Sara makes her living by managing software projects, web strategy planning, and providing development team services (including account management, vendor management, strategic partner management, beta project management, referrals to qualified technical team members, and more). Please visit http://saraisenberg.com or contact Sara by email at sara@saraisenberg.com if you have any project management, account management, or Development Team leadership or service needs.
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