Oli & Carol

It starts with a tree. The sap of the hevea, or rubber tree, is tapped without harming the tree, and that is what Oli & Carol use to make toys for babies and children from 100% natural rubber: teething toys, bath toys, and cheerful figures. Behind the brand are Olimpia and Carolina, two sisters from Barcelona who were not yet twenty when they started, with a flair for design and a great desire to do things differently. By now, their toys are sold in more than eighty countries, but the starting point remains the same: toys for modern parents and cool kids, with care for the planet in every piece.

Why those toys don't have a hole

Each figure is hand-poured and painted with food-grade pigments, so nothing can come off that shouldn't go into a little mouth. The rubber is soft and just firm enough to chew on, with a shape that little hands can hold themselves. That makes them excellent teething toys for teething babies. And there isn't a single hole in them: no water gets in, so there is no black mold or bacteria nesting inside. Anyone who has ever cut open a classic rubber ducky immediately knows why that makes a difference. After years of service, such a toy is also biodegradable.

From teething ring to bathtub and kitchen table

The best-known Oli & Carol items are the cheerful fruit and animal figures, but the brand now makes much more: rattles, sensory balls, bath toys that just stick to the edge, stacking toys, puzzles, little cars, and tableware for those first bites. All in the same cheerful style, making it easy to create a cohesive gift basket. The brand also puts its money where its mouth is: it works with organizations that restore coral reefs and donates toys to children's hospitals.