Elena Leonovich, a designer from Slutsk, drew sketches that were used to create three-dimensional Bonstikov models. The girl told how she came up with the characters, whether they turned out exactly the same as in her drawings, and why she has to buy Bonsticks in the store.
Bonsticks - small rubber toys - aliens with Velcro, which are given to customers in the Euroopt supermarket chain for every 15 rubles in the check. Special albums have been released for collecting Bonsticks, as well as a board game. 
How Bonsticks appeared
About 20 people worked on the Velcro toy project. Among them is 27-year-old Slutsk resident Elena Leonovich. She graduated from secondary school No. 12 and the children's art school in Slutsk, and then entered the Academy of Arts.
“It’s just that the guys from the art school came there, and I went to the faculty of design and arts and crafts to major in graphic design,” says Elena. 
Photo courtesy of the heroine A future employer came to defend Elena's thesis and offered to work for him. So the girl remained in the capital. In Minsk, she has many friends and a sister and family. Now parents come to their daughters more often than the girls themselves come to their hometown.
Elena worked as a distribution graphic designer for two years, then worked for a computer game development company. When she got laid off, she became a freelance designer. She was advised to work with the Bonsticks by a former colleague. Lena at that time was sitting at home, so she agreed to earn some money.
“A colleague got a job at the Eurotorg company. When they were talking about finding a new designer for the project, she suggested me. The art director told me his idea, and that same evening I drew the first version of the toy. The management liked it, and we started working. Literally in three days, the first collection was born, and after some time, the next one, which also took about three days, ”says Elena.
“I love the cartoon style. There are similar toys in Russia and Ukraine, but we haven’t had anything like this yet,” recalls the girl from Slutsk. “I didn’t know about such toys before, they opened the whole world to me. Before starting work, I had to do a little marketing research to see what was already there and create something better.”
The first collection of Bonsticks appeared on February 13, a. According to the girl, the toys turned out cute and bright. However, the company decided that the second collection drawn by the designer would be the first to be released. And the very first one was left for later, because it is less similar to everything that is in the CIS countries. “It has more of my creativity, fantasy and forms,” the girl admits.
Sketches, or "sketches", were drawn by Elena alone, and already 3D models were sculpted by another designer. “My opinion was not asked when they sculpted the form. I can tell that they stuck to sketches, but a flat picture and a three-dimensional character are two different things. But the characters turned out the same as in the sketches. The names of the toys and their stories were then thought up by the other guys in the team.”
About a dozen Bonsticks that Elena drew were not included in the collection (there are 24 toys in it). They were preserved by the girl in the working files.
“My favorite is Yellowbelly. He was the very first, after which they decided to work with me, ”says the girl.
Collected the collection of Bonsticks myself
“People often think that they gave me a collection of Bonsticks. Unfortunately, I didn't have access to them. I had to, like all people, collect toys while shopping in the store. Fortunately, there are as many as two near the house, I often go there for shopping. When I received the first toy from the new collection on May 15, I was also happy as a child, - Elena laughs. — I collect Bonsticks to play with my nephews when they grow up. They are still small now."
Elena's colleagues also got hooked on Bonstikov. They write to the girl from her previous job that they are collecting a collection. “I am very pleased when friends send photos with Bonsticks stuck to the monitor. And on the street, I met a biker who had these toys stuck on a helmet with a mohawk. It turned out that his mother worked at Euroopt, and he proudly rode around in a helmet with Bonsticks. It's nice that both adults and children like them. But still, toys were created for children,” says the designer.
As soon as posters with Bonsticks appeared in the cities, my mother constantly called me and said: “Oh, they are hanging all over the city. I'm proud of you".
Elena explains the popularity of Bonstikov with advertising and promotions held by Eurotorg. “And there is also a human passion for collecting - it's like a syndrome of incompleteness. If you have something to collect, you always want to have a complete collection in your hands, ”the girl suggests.
“People in social networks still continue to write to me:“ Oh, is it really you? ”And as soon as posters with Bonsticks appeared in the cities, my mother constantly called me and said:“ Oh, they hang all over the city. I'm proud of you". But the mistress of my rented apartment is unhappy. He says these toys are scary. How many people, so many opinions,” says Elena. For example, Lenin's girlfriend, having learned who invented Bonstikov, now "buys completely unnecessary things in order to get toys for them."
What's after Bonsticks
The girl plans to post sketches of Bonsticks, which were not in demand, in an online portfolio. “Since the next collection has already been released, I have the right to put them on the Internet,” says Elena. - On my Instagram, I started to put hashtags -. And the art director of the project called me that: “You are the mother of Bonstiks! You must do something else!" 
Photo provided by the hero Now Elena would like to participate in the creation of cartoons, learn how to animate and develop in this area. “I want to invent my own whole world, populate it with my own characters,” says the girl from Slutsk.
Bonistics
(French bonistique, from bonds), an auxiliary historical discipline that studies obsolete banknotes and bonds as historical documents reflecting the economic and political situation of society. Originated at the beginning of the 20th century. and is closely related to numismatics.
(Great Soviet Encyclopedia)
Bonistics- a branch of historical science that studies paper banknotes and bonds as historical documents; collecting old banknotes. (Modern Economic Dictionary)
Bonistics, an auxiliary historical discipline, studies paper money and bonds as a source on the economic and political history of society. (Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary)
Bonistics - collecting, systematization, study of paper banknotes (bon). The term originated in the 20s. of the last century, when in Russia (USSR) collecting bonds was a mass phenomenon. The First World War, revolutions, the collapse of the largest European empires - Russia, Germany, the formation of new states and finally the Civil War in Russia led to the emergence of a huge number of issues of paper banknotes, and their rapid depreciation. These circumstances made the collection of paper banknotes accessible to the broad masses of collectors. In the USSR, the state, through the SFA, actively promoted all types of collecting, incl. and bonistics, because this made it possible to earn money from the sale of obsolete banknotes.
The term bonistics, as well as bon, is used by Russian-speaking collectors, in the West they talk about collecting paper money, banknotes.
Collecting bonds compares favorably with other types of collecting, because. bonds are created by the best artists, engravers. When printing them, the best technical achievements in the field of printing are used - intaglio printing, Oryol printing, printing with iris overclocking, holography. High-quality paper with watermarks, local fibers, security threads is used. The size of the bonds allows placing a large amount of graphic information on them - coats of arms, allegorical drawings, portraits, landscapes, and textual information. The twentieth century is the age of paper money.
Bonds, especially national ones, are not characterized by commemorative issues for sale to collectors. Compare this to postage stamps or huge runs of commemorative coins.
The high, growing value of bonds makes bonistics a very prestigious form of collecting and a profitable way to invest money. This is especially true of the classics - banknotes and credit notes of the Russian Empire.
Bonistics is closely related to scriptophilia - collecting securities.
According to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, the name Bonistika comes from the French (bonistique) "bons". This is a historical sub-discipline, which is devoted to the study of banknotes or banknotes or bons, as obsolete historical documents that reflected economic relations and the political situation in society. This discipline originates from the beginning of the 20th century and is strongly associated with another money collecting - numismatics.Bonistics, which is essentially close to numismatics, is a kind of branch of historical science that studies banknotes, banknotes, bonds and various other paper banknotes. Such an interpretation of the name bonistics can be found in the Modern Dictionary of Economics.
A little about bonds. The name of the bona comes from the ancient Latin word "bonus", which translates as "comfortable" or "good". Currently, there is a scientific discussion between some historians whether bonistics is a full-fledged auxiliary historical discipline that studies various types of securities, their duplicates, as well as certain papers that replace them, or Bonistics, it is still an independent and full-fledged branch in the historical science aimed at denominations banknotes, bonds? In any case, Bonistics is undoubtedly a very popular form of collecting.
Bona (another name is a token) in German, it is pronounced as a “mark”, in French it is “merey”, in Italian it is “tessera” and in English it will sound like a “token”. Thus, in different countries they called coin-like signs (like a banknote, bonds), which were receipts or warrants, and in addition, receiving certain amounts of money during the calculation. In a more distant historical period, mainly coin-like signs were made of metal, but after the expiration of time they mainly acquired the paper format of banknotes. However, in our time there are numerous coin-like signs made of metal and plastic. Usually these are various travel or telephone tokens, as well as tokens used in slot machines and for other purposes.
Often in bonistics, bon can have the status of a control sign, for example, to go to a certain status meeting, in addition, it can become a full-fledged substitute for a banknote and can serve as payment for any type of work or indicate the receipt of donations or charitable contributions. Bonuses can also serve as a variety of money substitutes in the casino, the so-called "gaming stamps". Also, certain documents that give the right to a discount when purchasing various goods can be considered as coupons. During the Patriotic War, bonds were limited books and food cards. The concept of the word "bonds" can also include shares, loan bonds, lottery tickets, etc. In this, bonds differ from banknotes and banknotes, but all this is studied and covered by bonistics.
Often, bonds can shed light on some of the mysteries of history, economics, art, geography, politics, and even industry. Due to the fact that Bonistics is a historical discipline, it studies and studies a wide variety of monetary documents, regardless of the materials of which they are composed, metal, paper, plastic, wood, cardboard, fabric or leather.
Bonistics and its various directions - banknotes, banknotes, bonds, etc.
Bonistics includes types of gathering, both traditional and non-traditional. The "classic" Bonistics includes collecting issued or issued monetary documents. For example, it can be a collection of banknotes (bills, bonds or banknotes) and securities that were issued only by government agencies of various periods of time.For example, very popular or
Banknotes were first introduced in France in 1792 by decree of the Revolutionary Assembly in the form of paper money. Banknotes began to be issued in the Russian Empire during the reign of Catherine the Great from 1762 to 1796. Subsequently, all paper banknotes began to be called banknotes. As for metal bons, they are usually collected by numismatists, not bonists.
Thematic collecting in bonistics has a variety of directions. For example, there are bonists who collect only bons with the image of seals on them or even fake bons. There are people who collect bonnes not as banknotes, but as works of fine art.
However, the traditional thematic areas of gathering in Bonistics are subject areas, for example, fauna and flora depicted on banknotes or denominations. Most often, rare animals and rare plants are depicted on paper banknotes or on bonds, which are on the verge of destruction and which are protected by the laws of the state. Often collect bonds with images of geographical maps. Even more often, collections are collected, where there are images of various celebrities on bonds, banknotes or banknotes. Poets. Artists. Writers, scientists or politicians, etc.
There are also “professional” directions in collecting. For example, they collect bonds - a kind of banknote or banknote that is issued by paper mills, glass factories or public catering organizations for internal settlements. Popular in bonistics and collecting booms with heraldic images, architectural monuments, buildings and bridges. Many collect collections by the presence of watermarks. There is even a category of bonists who collect only round bons.
Those who prefer souvenir banknotes may be interested in GOLD
In the world which is called bonistics (worldhobbies bonds, banknotes and banknotes) collectors, of course, have to deal with copies of banknotes. In our opinion, this is quite an acceptable direction. The question of collecting exactly copies of banknotes is quite logical, because they are much cheaper. The study of banknotes, banknotes or bonds on the example of copies is no less interesting and will undoubtedly captivate amateurs - bonists.
see our
Collecting paper settlement signs has a long history. The first paper money appeared in Ancient China. Due to the abundance of calculations that small coins could not cope with, the emperor ordered paper receipts to be put into circulation, each of which had to be unquestioningly exchanged for ten thousand coins. Experts say that it was then that the first collectors of paper money appeared. In Russia, the first collectors of banknotes arose after 1769, when banknotes entered circulation.
Collecting paper banknotes is called bonistics, and collectors in this path - bonists. Unlike numismatics, bonistics, as a recognized area of collecting, is quite young. It developed in the middle of the 20th century. The International Association of Paper Banknote Collectors declared itself only in 1961. In the 70s of the last century, national catalogs of paper money appeared, and then "Standard Catalog of World Paper Money", which combines information about the paper money of all countries of the world in the entire history of their existence.
Domestic bonistics came out of the book by S. I. Chizhov “The First Russian State Banknotes”, although earlier works in this area are also known. It received a powerful impetus for development almost immediately after the formation of the USSR, since the Soviet state was flooded with all kinds of banknotes issued in the pre-revolutionary period and during the civil war. Most of them could not be exchanged for Soviet rubles, which created fertile ground for collecting. Along with postage stamps and coins, the SFA (Soviet Philatelic Association) begins to trade in collections of bonds.
The abundance of obsolete banknotes of the USSR and the national currencies of the republics that were previously part of it caused a significant increase in the number of people who became interested in bonistics in our time.
Often those who have acquired a commemorative banknote join the ranks of collectors. In modern Russia, paper money marked such important events as the Olympics in Sochi, and the football world championship. An inevitable surge of interest arises when new banknotes are put into circulation, as happened with the appearance of bonds of 200 and 2000 rubles, unlike the design of the previous banknote series. However, the interest of the bonists is not limited to only. The collection of banknotes with a railway theme has received great development in the world. Closely connected with classical bonistics is the collection of all kinds of money surrogates - from regional issues (Ural francs) to MMM tickets. You can also add various subspecies of souvenir money here, for example, banknotes with a denomination of 0 euros.
A novice banknote collector should remember that a stack of banknotes from various countries and eras is not yet a collection. To create a collection, you need a theme and the availability of collectible bonds reflecting it. Dirty, torn and wrinkled copies are acceptable only if it is difficult to get better quality.
Most often, a novice collector has a question: how much is his collection valued? It is almost impossible to give a direct answer to this question, since many factors come into play at once. The first of them is the presence or absence of these banknotes on the collection market. After the collapse of the USSR, there was such an abundance of bank and treasury notes that had been in circulation that they would be enough for many generations of collectors, so such collections are still sold almost by weight. However, any assembly may hide its own pearl.
5000 Ukrainian karbovanets (coupons) "PRESS"
First of all, you should pay attention to the safety of booms. Collectible safety for modern bonds is the state ("PRESS"), which means the absence of even the slightest fold and undisturbed corners. The slightest defect of the boom immediately removes it from the "Press" category. However, infrequent and rare bonds are also in demand in a weaker state of preservation. For example, 500,000 rubles printed before the denomination was a very substantial amount for those times, so most of them were spent or exchanged for new banknotes. In this connection, the appearance at the auction of even a copy with traces of a long turnover attracts attention. But it is the “Press” category that is capable of raising the amount of care to sky-high heights for this bond.
The year of issue also matters. Modern banknotes of Russia have gone through several stages of modification, which slightly changed their appearance. Bonds of old modifications or with no modification are gradually leaving circulation. And the hunt for them begins. Therefore, it is a good idea to remember that bonds of old issues can cost more than the face value printed on it.
Watermark is an obligatory protective feature of modern bonds. But its location sometimes surprises. An inverted watermark or one that is different from most bills will certainly arouse collector's interest.
On the banknotes of many countries, a facsimile of the responsible official is also placed. The design of the bonds is unchanged, but periodically changing signatures caused the formation of a cohort of collectors who strive to have each of them. For domestic banknotes of tsarist times and the first years of Soviet power, there are also collectible collections that include all options.
In troubled periods, when inflation goes off scale, they often do not have time to print banknotes of the required denomination, then old-style bonds with overprints new denomination. Variations of such overprints are very diverse, which well illustrates the history of money circulation of this period. Of course, even a novice bonist should be able to separate official overprints from advertising samples and all sorts of bright pictures made by enthusiastic merchants and turning a calculated sign into a souvenir.
A highly specialized field of bonistics is the collection of trial bonds or samples (the corresponding inscription is either overprinted or perforated). The number of such copies is small, but the cost is high. Therefore, any boom with the inscription "Sample" deserves close attention.
Velcro toys, which have already captured all of Europe and the CIS countries, have appeared in Belarus today. On this occasion, TUT.BY changed its front page and turned into the planet Bonitron-24 for a day.
A wave of excitement with collecting rubber toys has already swept through many countries, including Lithuania, the Netherlands, Russia, and Ukraine. On the Internet, they talk about it as an inexplicable phenomenon and an epidemic. Because no one remains indifferent - both children and adults "stick". Moreover, if children create exchange communities, shoot videos for youtube and entire series with heroes, then adults say that toys work great as an anti-stress. It is difficult to describe this effect in words - you need to try the toys in action and hear their signature “bang” sound.
The trick of toys is that they have a special suction cup, which means it can stick to any smooth surface.
Who are Bonsticks?
In Belarus, they appeared under the name Bonsticks, or Bonsticks. And the initiator was the Euroopt retail chain, which invented its heroes, their names and exclusively presented Bonsticks in stores throughout the country, as well as in the E-delivery and HyperMall online stores.
The easiest way to get Bonstik is to make purchases in the amount of 15 rubles. For every 15 rubles in the check (excluding alcohol and tobacco) and in the presence of an E-Plus discount card, one toy will be issued. If you add the so-called "Bon-goods" to the same check, you can get a few more toys in addition.
The same rules apply to the E-delivery and HyperMall online stores. You can read more about the rules.
The complexity and at the same time the interest of collecting lies in the fact that a toy is issued for purchases, packed in a special flowpack. Through it, it is impossible to see or feel which character is inside.
That is why entire movements and communities for the exchange of toys were created in Europe and neighboring countries. Children organized groups on VKontakte, held events during which they exchanged and received toys that were missing for a complete collection. Belarusian children will surely have to do this.
The collection, designed specifically for Euroopt, consists of 24 Bonsticks. According to legend, these are alien creatures that flew to Earth from the planet Bonitron-24. It was them at the national airport "Minsk" last Friday.
And it is they who captured TUT.BY today - look how the title page has changed.
Touring around the country
Each of the 24 characters has its own name and character. You can get acquainted with all Bonsticks on their official website.
But for an even brighter and non-standard promotion of the project, four key characters were chosen, who can be found in the most unexpected places in Minsk and other cities: in the cinema, in a store, at an exhibition, at a train station.
To get to know Belarusian children better, starting from February 15, Bonstiki will go on a real tour around Belarus. You can find out its schedule through the official pages of Bonsticks on social networks: In contact with , Facebook and Instagram.
It is there that all the latest and most relevant information about Bonsticks will be published. The Bonsticks are planning not just tours, but also fun performances for children and their parents.
The transport on which the Bonsticks will tour deserves special attention - this is a huge bright green Bonstickmobile. It will not leave anyone indifferent and will be a great subject for a photo on Instagram.
By subscribing to Bonstikov in social networks, you can be aware of all the movements of toys. And by adding Lupach, Zlyudin, Krol and Zheltopuz as friends, it will be possible to participate in exciting contests and win valuable prizes. So, in the near future, Euroopt will announce a competition for children and adults for the most interesting video with Bonsticks in the title role, as well as for the most non-standard place where you can stick them.
To become a member of the movement, it is enough to share your photos, ideas and collection of Bonsticks through social networks, indicating the hashtags #bonsticks and #stickyall.
Belarusians will have exactly one month to collect the entire collection of Bonsticks. On March 15, the promotion in Euroopt stores will end, and Bonsticks will return to their home planet Bonitron-24
Bonsticks in smart style
Especially for the launch of the project with Bonsticks, the Euroopt retail chain has developed a mobile game for smartphones and tablets.
You can download the game to your mobile device in Google Play or the App Store.
The collection of Bonsticks consists of 24 toys and is presented only in the stores of the Euroopt retail chain. The promotion runs from February 13 to March 15.
