Rubber brand

Since it sold its first shipment in July 2006, Rubbabu has been quietly making a name for itself among buyers in Europe and America with its range of colourful handmade toys of natural rubber foam. The toys are biodegradable and non-toxic though, says Butalia, tongue in cheek, they make it difficult for him to blow his trumpet “as natural rubber foam absorbs sound”. That, of course, hasn’t stopped buyers including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, from brand loyalty.

Rubbabu toys come in the most basic of shapes and happy colours and are spare in design. Prices range from $5 to $20; they are not available in India. Sculptor Arunkumar H.G., who designs the toys in a studio at the Rubbabu factory in Gurgaon, says, “We don’t want our toys to be too realistic, children should also be left to their imagination.” Staring at us from a shelf in Butalia’s office is Modena, the Racer—a Formula 1 model that has none of the distractions of tacky stickers or remote controls but is a classy nod to the sleek original. It was picked by the Dr Toy Awards as one of the ten best toys this year.

Butalia worked with the State Bank of India till 1997 when he jumped at an offer to head a small toy company that worked with rubber foam. The company didn’t survive but the idea did. He is the enthusiastic entrepreneur, happy pottering around his factory as he shows us around, his sentences often winking with avuncular good humour. “You know, in some ways, I run a bakery,” he says. “The latex for the toys comes from Switzerland. We whisk the sap like you’d whisk eggs and then we bake them in toy moulds.”

Why doesn’t he sell in India? “Too many hassles. I can’t run after people for payments or dole out bribes, which is what you end up doing here. A few Indian companies have approached us. Let’s see,” he says sceptically.

That means I still can’t pick that purple Rubbabu ball to fling around. But at least, Little O is having fun with his red-and-blue dump truck.