History

During the eighties the creativity amongst bear lovers seriously got going. In 1984 the concept 'Artist Bear' occured in a dolls-magazine and ever since a  flood of artist bears emerged, usually of a very high quality. These handmade bears appear with very different looks though it seems like there is two trends; the classical often with reminiscences of the elder bears, or more fanciful creations. Because the bear collections increased amongst bearlovers there was a need for more space to store or show the bears. Throughout all the years the manufacturers had produced small or even miniature bears so because of the space problems many collectors began collecting small teddies and apparently quite a few bear artists are able to deliver.

Arctophili is the term used, when a person collects teddy bears and as previously mentioned a boom took place up through the eighties and nineties. In addition to the growing numbers of artist bears allmost all the manufacturers increased the production of replica bears and limited editions. As with all collecting I guess it has gotten out of hand, whereas allmost no opportunity arise without celebrating it launching a new limited edition bear.