About The Bean People

Hand Made Bath Toys since 1988 from South Africa. Cape Town, early ’80s, a friend of the founders, Chris & Sharon, brought Jumping Beans home to South Africa after an overseas holiday. Chris, who was embarking on a career in the corporate world, and Sharon, who was a junior primary school teacher, immediately related to these capsules with ball bearings, which tumble on a sloped surface. They characterized each Bean by drawing faces on them making them cute and friendly – king bean, cook bean, surfer bean, doctor bean, etc. They marketed these "Jolly Jumping Beans" at outdoor and craft markets. Six months later Chris & Sharon got exposed to “Grow Capsules” from the USA and so introduced the concept of placing foam shapes inside capsules. The name “Magical Beans” was coined and the product was launched as a bath toy for children. A highlight that really helped to get The Bean People going in those early market, direct sales days, was when they received, out of the blue, an envelope in their letterbox at home in Cape Town, bearing Canadian stamps. The envelope contained a handwritten letter from a 5-year-old in Canada, who wrote that his father had been in South Africa and had bought the Magical Beans as a gift for him. He enclosed $5 and asked if we could post some more to him because he had had such fun in his bath with them. This brought the realization that hey! there is a larger market for the products than just local craft markets. Thank YOU for YOU 🙏Read their story