A story written in invisible attraction

Michał looked at the heap of blankets, anger and disappointment mixed on his face.

Watching his son, Oleksandr came up against a simple challenge: ordinary sofa cushions held no structure and gave no stability. What was needed was something that would let a child build large, lasting structures while staying completely soft and safe.

An idea began to take shape in Oleksandr’s head. The wish was simple: to make his son blocks that would deliver on the dream of a perfect den.

We were not looking for a business idea. We were looking for a way to stop a child’s delight from collapsing every time a blanket slid off a chair.

The weeks that followed were given over to searching and testing. Oleksandr knew exactly which foam and which magnets he needed. The key, though, was finding the right size of block and the right fabric, one that would be soft, pleasant to touch and would hide the magnets safely beneath its surface.

When the first refined prototypes emerged after many attempts, Michał picked them up for the first time. Two cubes joined together with a quiet click.

A moment later the first solid house stood in the living room. The real breakthrough came when friends started dropping in on Svitlana and Oleksandr. Once they saw how the children played with the blocks and what this connection made possible, they had no doubts.

In 2015 they made the decision and entered the market. They packed the first sets and set off for trade fairs, first to Kielce, then straight on to Germany.

That was where they showed the idea to a wider audience for the first time, gathering opinions directly from parents and industry experts. The reaction of visitors was immediate: curiosity, the touch of the soft material and delight at how easily the blocks joined together.

At the fairs they formed their first key relationships, and the first official sale followed. An idea from a family living room had been given the green light by the market.

Looking back today at that collapsing blanket fort, we know it was worth searching for a better answer. JollyHeap is now a brand with global reach:

JollyHeap blocks have become a fixture in education settings, sensory integration therapy rooms, hotel play corners and play centres. What makes them exceptional lies in one simple but brilliant quality: soft, safe foam combined with an innovative way of joining the blocks to one another.

They are versatile and suit every space and every child, giving children room to create wherever development meets a child’s imagination.