Smurfs for your garden: Vidroflor’s artificial-stone figures cost €49.90

Gadget of the day

The garden gnome has a rival. In its KunstStein range, Germany’s Vidroflor sells Smurf figures about 30 cm tall, made of artificial stone and fillable with sand so they stay upright even in the wind. The price is €49.90 each.

What do you get for €49.90?

At the time of checking, the collection had three figures. Papa Smurf measures 31 × 17 × 16 cm and weighs 1.2 kg. Farmer Smurf measures 30 × 19 × 16 cm and weighs 1.25 kg. Smurfette measures 29 × 14 × 16 cm and weighs 1.2 kg. The characters are familiar from the comics: Papa Smurf in his red hat, Farmer Smurf as the village farmer and Smurfette as the village’s best-known female Smurf. Other villagers, such as Clumsy or Chef Smurf, were not in the range at the time of checking. So the figures are light, which is why the seller advises filling them with sand if they are placed outdoors.

The product pages also carry an authenticity note: a genuine figure can be identified by the hologram on its base. That is a useful tip, as plenty of copies of licensed characters circulate online. The seller says nothing about how the material copes with Finnish frosts, so storing them indoors over winter is the safest choice.

Who makes them?

Vidroflor Warenhandels GmbH is a company based in Kalkar in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and KunstStein is the name of its artificial-stone range. According to the seller, the Smurf figures are officially licensed. The rights to the Smurfs are owned by Belgium’s IMPS, and in German-speaking countries the licences have been managed since 2023 by KIDDINX Media. However, we could not find Vidroflor’s own licence agreement in public sources, so the hologram on the base and the seller’s statement are the only evidence. The Smurfs themselves date back to 1958, when they first appeared in the Belgian magazine Spirou.

Shipping to Finland

According to the store’s FAQ, products are shipped within continental Europe, and shipping costs are calculated at checkout. We could not see the exact price for Finland without starting an order. It is worth checking before you fall in love with Farmer Smurf, as a stone figure weighing over a kilo is not the lightest thing to post. If you order all three at once, the shipping cost is spread over several figures, which may make the whole purchase cheaper.

If you want your Smurfs indoors and have a bigger budget, Denmark’s Boyhood sells oak Smurfs from €130 upwards. Vidroflor’s artificial-stone figure is clearly cheaper and made for outdoor use.

Based on manufacturer information – not tested by our editorial team.

Does this belong on a gadget blog?

There is no technology here to speak of, so as a topic this is a borderline case. Still, a garden Smurf that you fill with sand and authenticate with a hologram is exactly the kind of small oddity that makes the Hilavitkutin team smile.

Our verdict

€49.90 is a fair price for a 30 cm figure sold as a licensed product. Minus points because the licence could not be verified elsewhere, for the open shipping costs and for the lack of information on frost resistance. A good choice for a Smurf fan’s garden, and at least a conversation starter for a friend of garden gnomes.

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