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Esther Williams visits the Panadura toy factory that adheres to Maria Montessori’s vision of what toys should be
The toymakers
One of the first Montessori products ever made was the Pink Tower. It comprises ten wooden cubes painted pink and graduated in increments from 1 cm³ to 1000 cm³ to help a child develop visual discrimination of size in three dimensions and mathematical concepts.

This along with other educational toys such as dress frames (for practical life), geometric solids (sensorial development), sandpaper letters (language), numerical rods (maths) and many more are now made at a Dutch owned factory, Nienhuis Asia (Pvt) Ltd. in Panadura.

Beech wood is imported from Eastern Europe for making the pink tower and other educational equipment at the Panadura factory, a sprawling structure spread over 10 acres.

"The essential thing is for the task to arouse such an interest that it engages the child's whole personality," said Maria Montessori many years ago. As such, this Montessori equipment in different colours, sizes, shapes and textures are graded into age appropriate material to ensure development in maths, biology, geography and other areas.

Walking through the factory, you can see how the products are made: Pre-dried wood (Beech, Abachi, Mokara) in different shapes and sizes are shipped by the parent company in the Netherlands to the factory location. The procedure thereafter includes cutting, moulding, mechanical sanding, manual sanding, spray painting or curtain coating, drying, hand painting or screen printing, bead assembly when required, before quality checing and packing. Local material is used for packing.

Nienhuis Asia currently also makes a wide range of other wooden educational materials for a more general education catering to 3-12 year olds for a company called 'Toys for Life,' also based in the Netherlands. Their products are designed to develop the 5 senses and enable children to think and act independently and to simultaneously prepare them for the future.

Care is taken to maintain the highest quality and precision. "We work to very high standards of ½ mm tolerance limits," states Factory Manager S.T.J. Arawwawala. Further, sturdy interlocking joinery and glue have eliminated the need for nails, screws and other metal fasteners, making the products safe for kids.

Set in a peaceful, residential locality, Nienhuis Asia provides employment to over 50 permanent staff and 25-30 temporary staff. The wooden products turned out by them, painted in imported non-toxic paints are colourful, attractive and keep to the international safety norms.

The Ambassador of the Netherlands in Sri Lanka, Mrs. Susan Blankhart, recently inaugurated their new office building which provides additional space for staff training. While most of the workers are trained on the job, others require further training. Employees are also encouraged to avail themselves of in-house training programmes in computers, industrial health and safety, and English after work.

It was perhaps the good relations between this country and the Netherlands that enabled the setting up of Nienhuis Asia in 1995, a cost effective manufacturing alternative for the more labour intensive products that were initially being produced in the parent company in the Hague, the Netherlands.

The move to Sri Lanka allowed for the production in the Netherlands to focus on the more technological advanced and trendier products. Moreover, it enabled them to sell their products at reasonable prices. Nienhuis companies today are the largest suppliers of Montessori educational materials worldwide, one of the two endorsed by Association Montessori Internationale (AMI).

The company has an interesting history that features Dr. Maria Montessori who began an educational revolution that changed the way we think about children. 'First the education of the senses, then the education of the intellect,' was the essence of the Italian doctor's vision and method.

Not many people know that the ideas and requirements of Dr. Montessori materialised in the workshops of Nienhuis, a factory for furniture in the year 1929. "It was the result of cooperation between the founder of the Montessori teaching method and Albert Nienhuis who helped in making prototypes and later production of apparatus," explained Plant Manager of Nienhuis Asia (Pvt) Ltd. Herman B. Reuvers.

Nienhuis went on to select the best materials and provided the craftsmanship necessary to manufacture the special apparatus that met Dr. Montessori's requirements.

As Dr. Montessori's educational methods received worldwide acceptance, Nienhuis responded to the needs of the worldwide Montessori community by expanding their manufacturing facilities to cope with the growing demand. 1975 saw the founding of a subsidiary in California to handle distribution in North America and 1995 the Sri Lankan unit. Currently, Nienhuis Asia provides a significant contribution to the total worldwide production output of Nienhuis.

The main markets for the Nienhuis products are Europe and North America, with all sales being handled in the Netherlands. Considering the high cost of the products, which is justifiable when you take into account the quality of wood and labour, the average Sri Lankan school may not be able to afford them. "We are looking into changing the system in the future, by setting up an agent or our own distribution system, Mr. Reuvers explained.

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