Raf  Peeters   toy & puzzle designer

I am a product manager and toy designer at Smart, a Belgian toy company. Most of my work involves the development and preproduction of quality toys, brain games and logic puzzles for kids and adults. Finding the right form and material for a concept, designing logos and boxes etc for a product and communicating with factories and printers is all part of what I do. My work’s only finished when the final product is on the market.


Toy collections I’ve worked on so far are:

SmartFrames (1998 -2004) 

This is a collection of classic wooden toys with metal wires and beads. I didn’t invent the concept, but I designed and developed more than 30 different models for this collection, made by Smart.

Speedies (2002) 

Simple wooden vehicles for very young children, designed for and made by Smart.

SmartWood (2002-2004) 

This is a collection of classic wooden toys with a new twist. This brand doesn’t exist anymore, but some of these toys were updated and later used  for SmartGames, like Circus Blocks (Castle Logix), DuoPuzzle and Fantasy Blocks (Day & Night) and recently My First Acrobats for SmartMax  (Circus Friends).

SmartMax (2010-2015) 

This is a collection of magnetic construction toys with really big pieces.  I designed for Smart a lot of extras to create more playing possibilities, like vehicles and ball runs. This collection is since 2016 further developed by my colleagues Tom and Emma, so that I have more time to focus on SmartGames. More information about the current line up can be found on the official SmartMax website.

SmartGames (1999 to present) 

This is a collection of single player games with multiple challenges from easy to expert. So far I have invented and designed more than 130 different puzzle games. I try to create about 4 to 8 new games every year. This is my real passion so that’s why the rest of this website is devoted to these games.


Update 2024: There is now an interview with me on Mojo-Nation for who is interested.

CV Raf Peeters

  • born in 1971 in Lier, Belgium.
  • 1994: graduated from SHIVKV-Genk with a Master in Industrial Design
  • 1994 - 1998: worked part-time as a teacher at BuSO Mechelen a school for children with special needs 
  • 1997 to present: Product Manager at Smart-Belgium, located in Kontich (Belgium)
  • Married to Jeannine Vrins; we have 2 sons, Lieven and Karel.  
  • We live in Lier, a small city close to Antwerp and Brussels (Belgium).


Hobby's

  • With 2 jobs and 2 children there is not much time left for a decent hobby. But I shouldn't complain because I am getting paid to play games! When I am not working, I like to play piano and to read fantasy books.


Favorite movies

(probably because they all have something to do with mazes and secret doors):

  • Underground
  • Being John Malkovich
  • Monsters & Co

Website ©2024 Raf Peeters

Products and images: © Smart