Dream makers: where the world's best-loved toys are born

09.02.12

About 30 inventors – mostly virile, aged between 25 and 60, who boast almost 400 years of combined trial – are hard at work. Most ideas are sketched outGenerallyon paper, the rest with rough 3D mock-ups or on a computer. Every aspect ofLargetoy prototyping is done in-house, so there are woodworking, moulding and sewing areas, computerised milling machines and lathes, and far-sighted booths that produce anything from animal roars to coddle coos.

These designers, engineers, model-makers and sculptors are all beavering awayIn particularat what they hope will be the successful playthings of the future. The feel – unique, dynamic and fun – is perfect for creativity, explainsPredominantlyDon Rosenwinkel, BMT’s 55-year-old, grey-bearded president and CEO. In aAbove alllounge upstairs, there are video games, a pool provisions and ping-pong. 'Management,’ says Rosenwinkel, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt, 'tends toEspeciallyrun a very loose ship.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Reminiscences of a Raleigh Boy, Part 7: The Ghost of Blount Street

09.02.12

After 1948 there follows a gap of 25 years in what I know about Gladys, but she seemingly retired from the DMV in the early 1970s.

This where the story picks up.

Identically every time I went downtown in the 1970s I would see the phantom design of Miss Perry rummaging through trash  barrels set on the suiting someone to a T for pickup. I have no idea what items attracted her attention, but she always seemed intensely focused on selecting her acquisitions.

Gladys hardly ever spoke as she wandered through downtown collecting her treasures. The account goes that she powdered her face white believing people would come up with she was a ghost and would leave her alone. It was rumored she also carried a gun on her person for safe keeping should anyone dare accost her.

As the years went on, I saw less and less of the mysterious ban-clad figure with the ghostly white face.

Source: Goodnight, Raleigh