Brio, the company, began its life selling baskets in Southern Sweden in the latter part of the 19th century. The founder, Ivar Bengtsson, handed over control of the company to his three sons in 1908 and they oversaw a massive expansion programme for the company which saw it gain a worldwide reputation for high quality wooden toys. The range of toys offered by Brio quickly rose from just 170 in 1907 to over 14,000 by 1914 and these were available to order from mail order catalogues or from the company's band of travelling salesmen.
Since then the company has grown enormously and is almost a byword for quality in the toy industry. It's estimated that their share in the global wooden toy industry is over 40% and looking at some of their products, it's easy to see why.
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