If you have been in one of our Mastermind stores then you won't have missed the giant stuffed animals in our display windows. From the giraffe to the elephants, these animals are made with the utmost attention to detail.
The company that makes these animals, Hansa, started out by making these high quality lifelike animals for "avid nature collectors" in Europe. They branched out into the toy market because of the growing popularity of their products.
Making one of these animals involves a lot of care:

• the animals are stitched from the "inside out" which allows Hansa artisans to add muscle definition to the toy,
  
• eyes, whiskers, noses and claws are chosen from over 6000 different accessories to make sure the animal is as accurate to real life as possible,
• coats and hides are chosen from among a selection of over 850 different fabrics,
• the final detail of the animals "coats" is performed by artists who air-brush each animal's unique markings using portraits of the animals in their natural habitats,
• Each animal is hand-sewn so that there are slight variations between them.
• And for the largest Hansa animals, they even have a steel frame within that turns them into ride-on toys as well!
  

Not only are these animals beautiful works of art, but because they are toys they are very soft and cuddly and it's difficult to resist stroking a tail or mane. If you'd like to see more about the quality of the animal, check out our Youtube video.