“The idea is to present creations, but above all to return to childhood”. This Thursday morning in Mimizan, Vincent Rousseau finds the time to present his more than satisfactory results since he installed his exhibition in the north of the Landes. With his wife, they are co-presidents of the association ” South Playmo and they roam France with their Playmobil on their backs. He is a history and geography teacher, she teaches French. So they combine their passion for the German toy brand with the desire to recount significant passages in history. From a raid on England by the Vikings to the Crusades and a trip on the Nile, they set themselves the challenge “to teach children while bringing the older ones back to childhood”.
If they have placed their thousands of figurines on the Landes coast since April 25, it is because the municipality of Mimizan has called on them. “The tourist office kindly invited us, offering us a theme: that of the sea”. In total, nearly 7,000 Playmobil come to life until May 1st. Even if Vincent quickly tempers: “At home, I have nearly 100,000 cubic meters, I could only bring a small part of it”. A small part that still required “more than three days to set up”. And to the collector to add: “The longest part is all the little details that give life to the staging”, he says, taking an example of a tea room exhibited on the theme of “bathing in the good times “. But he readily admits: “that’s what people prefer”.
France’s biggest collector
Especially for their first exhibition in the Landes, the two enthusiasts have made a “Landes forest” part. Within it, shepherds on stilts and dressed in long woolen coats watch over a flock of sheep. “It requires six to seven hours of work per character. Special outfits are made piece by piece, you have to carve by hand. But it’s working pretty well, because we hadn’t planned to sell any and we’ve had orders since yesterday,” smiles the man who defines himself as France’s biggest collector of “Playmobil on historical themes”.
If they take so much trouble, it is precisely to get as close as possible to historical reality. So they don’t hesitate to dig into all the scenes and make new pieces. Above all, they must devote themselves to a “huge research work” to best respect the codes of the time. “We also work with museums or over specific periods. For example, we are soon preparing an exhibition on the theme of Napoleon III. And the couple divided up the work, he devoted himself more to the creation of buildings and military pieces when his wife made smaller pieces.
33 years of collecting
For the origin of this collection, you have to rewind some 33 years ago. “It’s a personal collection, since adolescence I have been passionate about models and history”, recalls the man from Narbonne. So, he begins to participate in exhibitions to “make something of all that he has collected for so many years”. And it works rather well: “It’s a good vector, it allows children to discover conflicts or periods that they don’t know very well”, says the fifty-year-old.
On this Thursday morning, they are nearly fifteen to survey between the historical scenes, “mainly families”, smiles Vincent. As for the first returns, the couple is satisfied that they are “very good”. And to conclude “we have locals, but also a lot of tourists, we made more than 1,200 entries over the first two days”. Even if he concedes “it’s a bit thanks to the weather too, which was capricious”. Hoping that this one gives a little more work to the couple of collectors.