Fatma och Hamid sitter och håller om varandra i en park

About us

Our names are Fatma Guettou and Hamid Noroozian and we are the founders and run Watoto Arts.

Watoto Arts is a social enterprise that works to create positive social change.

The idea for Watoto Arts came from seeing the lack of representation in toy stores. We couldn't find dolls that our own children could identify with and the few dolls that did exist were made far away, contained plastics and were neither durable nor made in a nice and transparent way. To counteract the skewed image created by today's limited supply, we took matters into our own hands and started designing and producing our own dolls, that was the starting point for the family business Watoto Arts!

A trip

A Family Business

How it started...

"I sat down at the kitchen table in the evening when I was on parental leave and started sewing a doll for my son. In the morning when the children woke up, I gave them the doll and was overwhelmed with love and pride. It should be a matter of course that all children should be able to play with dolls that look like themselves!”

What does your doll box look like? Does it represent society?

Watoto is Swahili and means children - all children. Our vision is to create a world where all children feel included and can develop, regardless of how we look or where we live. We know that the foundation for many of the values ​​we take with us in life is laid at an early age. We also know how important it is to be able to identify with one's surroundings in order to make room for a safe and confident individual. Our award-winning dolls are therefore more than just dolls, they are a tool to develop empathy and self-esteem and thus create positive social change.

Let's expand our horizons through puppetry!

“The dolls are so much more than just dolls. In the small way, the dolls make a difference to the child, but in the big way, they make a difference to society"

We are a work-integrating social enterprise

Watoto Arts is a work-integrating social enterprise that works to create positive social change. We create employment for individuals who have been excluded from the labor market, it may be foreign-born women who have had difficulty finding work. For us, this is an important step in our work for a more inclusive society. We are convinced that by empowering women and mothers, we create the best conditions for a brighter future.

Read more about work-integrating social enterprise here

Här återvinner och återanvänder vi
En bild som visar hur det ser ut där dockorna blir till

Our production

All our products are carefully designed and manufactured in Sweden. We are proud to have a short and sustainable production chain that allows us to manufacture safe toys that last for generations. All our dolls are handcrafted from durable fabrics carefully selected by our team.

When you buy our products, you can therefore be sure that you have made a good investment for you, for the children and for our planet.

All Watoto toys are created according to EU requirements for toy safety. We follow the EN71 standard and all our products are non-toxic and fireproof. .