Our Story

After three years of development, QUADRO is presented for the first time at the International Toy Fair in 1979 by its inventor Doris Rüther with the support of her husband.

The first prototypes were built as early as 1977/78 and tested in 16 German kindergartens, always in close cooperation with TÜV Germany. The results were very positive and - although completely new territory for TÜV - led to certification of the entire QUADRO system.

In mid-1979, QUADRO becomes an independent family company. The new direction is set: QUADRO is not just to be a product for one market, but a system for many markets throughout the leisure sector - for children and adults in the home and garden, indoors and outdoors.

Thanks to its ingenious product ideas, QUADRO wins the Product of the Year award presented by the Fachverband Konsum-Kunststoffwaren im GKV.

The Design Center Stuttgart awards QUADRO the gold medal for outstanding design.

In Japan, QUADRO receives the award for best consumer goods import product in the annual hit list of the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun.

QUADRO continues to grow in small and large steps: miniQUADRO is being developed and worldwide sales are picking up speed.

Countless inventions increase the product range, including air-filled tubes for rafts and various vehicle packages.

The QUADRO gearbox and QUADRO drive are ready for series production. The QUADRO garden furniture and the QUADRO exhibition displays are presented.

In the U.S., QUADRO receives the 1986 Parent's Choice Award in Boston.

The QUADRO pool house wins the Product of the Year award for plastic goods. miniQUADRO gains even more independence and receives the claw plate for more unusual designs.

At the beginning of 2004, a complete realignment of the company structure becomes necessary. From now on, further development, production and worldwide sales are the responsibility of the family-owned company QUADRO DER GROSSBAUKASTEN GmbH.

Now in its second generation, the company is responsible for extremely consistent brand protection worldwide, including patents, copyrights and other intangible rights.

Our passion for innovation and new developments lead to, among other things, the integral slide, which can be connected to any QUADRO climbing scaffold without screws. first model database with hundreds of different indoor/outdoor climbing scaffolds is developed and we realize the QUADRO multimedia CD-ROMs including QUADRO computer program.

Since the beginning, not much has changed in the QUADRO basic system. Through various new developments from 1979 to the present day, however, the play and sports equipment from QUADRO has been consistently expanded to include countless new design possibilities. QUADRO Products from today's production can still be combined with the earlier products since 1979 without any restrictions.

QUADRO is not a disposable or seasonal toy. For more than 40 years, it has been THE exercise toy with which children should grow up actively. It lasts for generations and is well thought out, stable and safe. It is just as creative and lively as your child.

One of the fundamental objectives of the inventor of QUADRO, Doris Rüther (*17 October 1947; † 26 September 2005), was to develop a toy that was as versatile as possible, extremely robust, fully compatible with each other within the QUADRO system, creative and playful, and would remain interesting throughout childhood. These objectives continue unreservedly to this day and help us in all design decisions as well as new developments to give QUADRO the decisive advantage over other toys in the future.

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Best regards

Your QUADRO Team