THE ANIMATED VISUAL MARKETING SPECIALIST FOR OVER 30 YEARS

Direct sales of Christmas and seasonal animatronic figures, featuring Santa Claus with elves and sleigh with two reindeer.Purchase animatronics

Animatronic figures & animated decorations available for sale

Explore our complete collection of animatronic figures, characters & animated decorations available for sale directly from our website. We imagine and handcrafted authentic, high-quality masterpieces individually produced by our talented artisans team. Our goal : conceptualize fantastic animatronics and lively scenographies, both innovative and rooted in the collective imagination, to create entertainment for young & old. Christmas themed, Easter and Spring / Summer collections, musicians and many others, choose from 400 items and transform your window displays or public pedestrian spaces into extraordinary tools of animated visual merchandising. Capture the sensibility and natural attraction of bystanders by enhancing your brand & showcasing your products to convert visitors into customers, elevate your brand prestige and boosting your sales volume.

Brand new creations of animatronics figures & animated decorations for windows displays or public spaces, our polar bears featured.Latest animatronics

New entertainment & magic for window displays every year

Twice a year, we unveil exclusive, brand-new animatronics creations crafted only by our workshop. As the winter holiday season approach, families from USA, Europe & worldwide enjoy cheerful strolls through shopping districts in search of themed window displays and festive Christmas scenes in motion. Bring enchantment and turn your frontshop into unique, high-end & magical sensory scenes experiences that generate many emotions, all full of joy for your customers. Our animated figures, characters & decorations designs span all continents, adorning the finest & luxury department stores, many street shops, both in window displays & sales spaces, or also festive events organized by capital cities & emblematic places. Create immersive & exclusive brand experiences, decorate your store for all other festive annual events with a huge range of exotic or wild animals, and cute pets like cats and dogs.

Collaboration for The Great Christmas at the château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, featuring our animatronic Standing Red Leon Christmas as the centerpiece of a scenography.Custom made personalized projects

Customize animatronics & create complete scenography with us

We respond to any custom order request & manufacture exclusive animatronic figures or bespoke series of animated figures that meet functionnal and technical particular specifications. We also create previously unseen animated and dreamlike scenes, allowing you to craft a unique customer centric experience. Our creative team will assist you in realizing your personalized projects and bringing unforgettable creations to life in perfect alignment with your expectations. Specialized brands, artistic directions, decorators, and event organizers collaborate with our workshop each year, entrusting us with all or part of the management of customized animated visual merchandising of their company in order to bring to life their windows displays or dedicated spaces.

Behind the scenes of our crafting workshop, with the finest craftsmen and women and our white Leonardo bear cub sitting on gift.Our workshop Fine French know-how

Expertise & high quality : the history of our French workshop

Since 1992, our animatronic figures have already been animated many events in France, Europe & worldwide. As a Living Heritage Company with a commitment to excellence artwork limited production, we proudly stand as leaders in the French & international market, enjoy recognition for the reliability & realism of our creations, their harmonious and smooth movements. Each year, we deliver over a thousand animatronics for many brands, entertainment industry & local authorities. Our entire work is carried out manually in an warmth & family atmosphere, thanks to the incredible synergy of our wonderful design office & team of artisans, including mechanics, electricians, electronic experts, carpenters and our seamstresses who add their unique touch to our creations.

News and Events

Animatronic characters for Halloween window displays

A spooky Halloween storefront combining thrills & humor

Spooky time is already here ! The season of crazy and scary scenographies is open! Decorate and animate your storefronts for the All Saints' Day holidays & Halloween with our serie of animatronics dedicated to the world of fantasy, tales and legends.

Witch & black cat, Terminator skeleton, goblins, mythical or mysterious animals, bears disguised as ghosts for Halloween and many others to amuse & amaze customers.

Trick or treats ?!

New Christmas 2024 : The Nutcracker Soldiers & Musicians

New Christmas 2024 : The Nutcracker Soldiers & Musicians

Discover our new Nutcracker Bears available for Christmas 2024 ! A collection inspired by Hoffmann's tale, Tchaikovsky's ballet, the traditions of the German Ore Mountains and the contemporary imagery of Christmas holiday decoration.

2.25 meters high and a majestic charisma to allow you to create new animated scenographies for your window displays, entrances and reception halls of establishments, animations or Christmas event exhibitions.

Exhibited exclusively at the Maison & Objet show until September 9, 2024

Join us at the Maison & Objet tradefair from September 5 to 9, 2024

Join us at the Maison & Objet tradefair from September 5 to 9, 2024

We'll be here at the Maison & Objet international trade fair at the Paris Nord Villepinte exhibition center to present our brand new animatronics & our Christmas animatronics. The theme of this new edition has just been revealed to the general public: Terra Cosmos !

Our event decoration and storefronts animatronics on the theme of the end of year celebrations will give you the pleasure of making your customers dream, with their heads in the stars and their feet anchored on the earth, in connection with the universe.

Home Accessories - Hall 5A - Stand G163

Animated decoration for window displays & events on sport games theme

Celebrate the 2024 summer games & support the French team in Paris

It's a special year for France, Paris and all the French teams in each sporting discipline ! More than ever, the summer games are in the spotlight and the flame will pass through many cities in France from April 2024. Be ready, Let's game !

Liven up storefronts & events with new animatronic characters dedicated to sport. Léo & Léon bears are tennis players & karateka while Funny Bunny turns into a basketball playergold medalist to the delight of customers. As for supporters, our pyramid of teddy bears is adorned with French flags & the bear Leonardo waves his flag in support.

More photos

From Atelier Michel Taillis to Animate Factory - About us

Animate Factory is a universe dedicated to joy, dreams and magic, where the fusion of arts & crafts and animated visual marketing gives birth to high-end animatronic figures, animatronic characters and animated decorations that will leave a memorable and spectacular emotional impact on your clients.

Located in the Normandy region in the town of Tôtes, our workshop was founded by Michel Taillis. Trained in industrial drawing and Fine Arts courses, our founder immersed himself in the world of visual creation as a decorator for the Galeries Lafayette Group, one of the foremost pioneers in creating thematic Christmas window displays. For 20 years, he crafted fabulous animated scenes before venturing out as an independent manufacturer.

Since its inception in 1992, our company has specialized in the design of plush animatronics, featuring a diverse array of animals. A fabulous menagerie representing all kinds of animatronic creatures : pets, wild or exotic animals, farm animals, and forest animals. We have created several registered models that have become the symbols of our brand: our bears Léo, Léon, Léonard, and Léonardo. In the 2000's, we expanded internationally, exporting our expertise to more than 50 countries and across all continents. Many prestigious orders showcased our creations and solidified our reputation in iconic locations such as the Main Street U.S.A.® shop windows at Disneyland® Paris with an exclusive series of 150 themed animatronic figures & characters.

In 2018, the Michel Taillis workshop underwent a transformation and became The Animate Factory, injecting a touch of modernity and a more dynamic & entertaining dimension into our company. We now generate over 50% of our sales internationally and continue to enchant the storefronts and events of France and Europe with a wide range of winter and Christmas-themed animatronics, as well as timeless collections featuring increasingly diverse references of animated decorations and mannequins.

We convey our passion for French craftsmanship within an artisanal and family-oriented structure with a human touch. Our team shares a common mission : to bring joy and wonder for all. 100% of the manufacturing process is done by hand, totally made in France. We have 14 different trades within our creation design & modeling office and our two manufacturing departments. There is a warm atmosphere where well-being, synergy, and the versatility of our teams thrive, and the transfer of know-how between the older and younger generations takes place with joy and good humor.

Creators, decorators, seamstresses, mechanics, electricians, electronics experts, carpenters, painters, logisticians, and the administrative and commercial team work together with the sole objective of offering you realistic and unique exceptional works that will strengthen your image and create a visual attraction around your commercial windows.

Visual merchandising for your point of sale - Our animatronics take center stage

Our Leo mascot animatronics on the guitar

Our mechanical animals are fabulous animated, sensory, and experiential visual merchandising tools designed to theatricalize and theme your shop windows, retail spaces, or exhibition venues.

In recent decades, consumers have increasingly gravitated towards dynamic shops and storefronts, new places of discovery offering immersive experiences. At this time where smartphone screens play a major role in consumers habits walking in the street, physical shop spaces must provide significant added value for customer experience and instantly capture attention. Like a welcoming host, your shop window should inspire and charm, be narrative and captivating in regard to creativity in order to reinforce your sympathy with public, your brand image and create a definite traffic.

The presence of our adorable animated companions allows you to create multiple occasional or permanent scenes, seasonal, thematic, or events. The magic of animatronic figures and characters lies in their response to consumer needs : they encourage the desire to buy with their world of evocative references where everyone can identify, recreational and short stories full of emotions and joy.  More ecological, durable, and attractive than classical merchandising TV screens, their authenticity and realism create a unique interaction with passersby. Placed in your shop windows, they will create an immediate attachment to the younger audience and offer adults a majestic spectacle, immersing them in their childhood memories.

We have created several flagship collections to delight passersby on all occasions and during the holiday season, a particularly favorable period for in-store purchases. Our winter and Christmas animatronic characters touch the emotions of strollers at the core and convey common values of family tradition, childhood, love, magic, and enchantment.

Our offering is designed to allow you to easily integrate our animatronics ; all options are available to captivate the crowds. We manufacture various sizes, from catalog or customized, accessorized or entirely created on demand. All annual marketing events are represented : Christmas, Valentine's Day, spring, Easter, summer holidays, Halloween, and many more. The same goes for the diversity of our collections : from miniature animals to life-size animals, from the North Pole to the savannah, including more specific universes such as our collection of musicians and our dedicated circus universe.

Designed for all budgets and all types of scenographies, our animatronics joyfully feature at the heart of window displays, various retail or event spaces, from the smallest structures to the most prestigious brands, as well as public authorities, zoos, theme and amusement parks.

Focus on our quality approach & commitments

Your satisfaction is our priority : the reliability and durability of our animatronic figures & characters are at the heart of our commitments.

Each phase of modeling, crafting and assembly follows a specific protocol and undergoes quality control to ensure you receive an authentic masterpiece with impeccable finishes.

We carefully select high-quality industrial motor and mechanical parts to protect your investment lasts against any form of planned obsolescence.

All our references available for sale comply with CE and M1 standard european guarantees, meeting the fields of application of current community directives and regulations.

We automatically adapt our animatronic designs to comply with the standards and voltages in force in your country and have a complete set of electrical connections and transformers fully tailored to your specific needs.

Our entire catalog is really easy to use ! Simply plug your animatronic into a standard power outlet, and if you wish, you can connect it to a programmer of your choice.

A clear, readable, and transparent user manual will guide you through the installation of your animatronic.

Designed to be efficient and operate continuously, 7 days a week and 24 hours a day, they undergo a series of tests in our dedicated warehouse before being released to the market to ensure their proper functioning.

Shipping in Europe & Worldwide : all our references available for sale come with a 2-year parts and labor warranty in the European Economic Area. We will package your order in the best conditions in our own warehouse to protect your animatronic during shipment and ensure your complete satisfaction upon receipt.

An attentive customer service & complete after-sales service

We have created an FAQ to address the most frequently asked questions from users.

For any other specific requests or questions, our customer service is at your disposal via email through our contact form or by phone.

We can also schedule appointments for you at our design and conception office to collaboratively develop your project.

We will respond promptly to all inquiries related to product information, customization requests, creation of animatronics & animated decorations or complete and ready-to-use scenographies, after-sales service, complaint management, logistics, or transportation.

Virginie, sales & creation Manager, along with Nicolas, sales & marketing Director & Associate Director, will address your various questions with particular attention.

For technical inquiries, Mathieu, the mechanical department Referent, and Marie-Laure, the Referent for the sewing department, will provide you with a tailored and fully personalized response.

The purchase of an animatronic figures & characters is a long-term investment when used and stored correctly before being put back into service.

The average lifespan of a mechanical animal or decoration is 10 years, but with regular maintenance and cleaning, it can demonstrate incredible longevity.

Many customers still have our designs, some acquired two decades ago. They are often entrusted to us for refurbishment or replacement of motor and wear parts.

To preserve the performance and visual effectiveness of our automatons, our customer service provides the following service options:

  • Complete overhaul
  • Repair or replacement of mechanical or motor parts
  • Cleaning
  • Seam retouching
  • Fur replacement
  • Supply of replacement or additional accessories
  • Creation of personalized accessories

keyboard_arrow_up