They're Not Toy Makers — They're Childhood Guardians: Inside the Havn Team
???????? The Founder: One Father's "Self-Rescue"
Mike Chen, founder of Havn Consulting Group, father of two.
Three years ago, Mike was a vice president at a cross-border supply chain company. His days were filled with data, shipping containers, and customs declarations. Career-wise, everything was on track. But deep down, he felt a growing unease — because his 3-year-old son's toy box was overflowing with products that Mike regretted buying the moment they arrived.
"Those light-and-sound toys — the battery covers didn't even have screws. My son could pry them open in two seconds. And the plastic edges had burrs. I watched a white scratch appear on his finger."
What stung him most wasn't his son's tears. It was the realization that he had spent ten years in supply chain, yet had never once scrutinized what was being shipped across oceans into children's hands.
"I realized I couldn't answer the most basic question: What exactly is my child touching and putting in his mouth every single day?"
After that day at the beach, Mike made a decision that everyone around him called "crazy": He quit his job to build a toy brand that he, as a father, could truly trust.
"I told myself: If even a father can't find toys he's happy with, then this industry is fundamentally broken."
And so, Havn Consulting Group was born.
???? The Design Team: Two Perfectionists Who Won't Let Go
At Havn's design studio, there's an unwritten rule: "If you wouldn't hand it to your 3-year-old nephew for a full day of play, scrap it and start over."
Designer Lena graduated from Central Saint Martins in Product Design and had designed for multiple international toy brands before returning to China. But she says her time at Havn has been both "the most painful and the most fulfilling" of her career.
"At big brands, my job was basically 'make it look good' and 'make it sell.' But at Havn, Mike only asked me one question: 'Can a child's ring finger rest comfortably on this curve?'"
To nail the grip angle on a fishing rod handle, Lena 3D-printed 27 versions and recruited 43 children aged 3 to 4 for grip tests. The final design differs from the first prototype by just 3.5 millimeters — but Lena insists those 3.5mm are the difference between "a secure grip" and "slippery and frustrating."
Designer Adong is a structural engineer specializing in magnetic tile systems. His obsession? The arrangement of the magnets.
"Most magnetic tiles on the market use only 4 magnets per piece. At corners, they often fail to align, and towers collapse the moment a child builds a little higher."
Adong spent six months developing an 8-pole ring-array magnet system. Each tile attracts from all 8 directions with perfectly even force.
"The moment I watched a test kid build a tower taller than himself with my tiles, then turned around and flashed me that grin — I knew those six months were worth every second."
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