The BRIO World Village theme, with it’s modular, open back designs that include furniture, is not entirely new territory for BRIO: back in the 60’s and 70’s, BRIO made doll houses.

This scan is from a 1970 Scanditoy catalog. Scanditoy is a toy wholesaler in the Nordic market that was under BRIO’s holding company, BRIO AB.

The Shopping Sherpa has some nice close-up photos of her 1960’s and 1970’s BRIO dollhouses and you can find more photos of the furniture and accessories they offered on Annette Jensen’s Pinterest Board.

Of course, the BRIO World Village products are more in the style of Playmobil than true dollhouses, but that’s appropriate for toys that are targeted at young children. Still, it’s a return to some of BRIO’s roots in a way, and it brings something truly new to the Wooden Railway line.