On the eve of the 50th Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 22 (local time), a French security guard had an unexpected encounter with Laura, an art toy from Dongguan. Julien Eustache, who was on duty at the festival entrance, kept a Laura figurine on his desk in hopes of finding the company that made it. He had received the basketball-loving, starry-eyed girl from Dongguan as a gift at last year's festival and has adored it ever since.
Laura is an original IP from Dongguan-based ToyCity and has been sold to over 40 countries and regions since its launch in 2020. Julien said he really likes Laura and hopes to visit Dongguan one day to see the city where this toy is made.
Today, one quarter of the world's animation derivatives are produced in Dongguan, and nearly 85 percent of China's art toys are manufactured here. The shift from OEM to original design and from manufacturing to smart manufacturing has made art toys a new vehicle for Chinese culture to go global.
Reporter: Xie Maishi, Zhang Qianqian, Gong Mingyang, Jin Yanming
Video by: Huang Weixing, Gong Mingyang
Design: Sun Peichuan
