I have a burning question and I thought perhaps one of you may have a lead for me. I want to be in touch with a product designer at GUND or another similar company that manufactures and sells stuffed animals. I feel like I could learn so much from hearing about their process, how they create the sewing patterns for the toys that are then mass produced overseas.
I’d love to hear or read an interview with a stuffed animal product designer. Or how cool would it be to interview them here about how it all works?
So I searched for “stuffed animal product designer” but didn’t find anyone to contact or any interviews to read. How do you think I would go about finding someone in this role at one of the big companies?
(That picture up there has nothing to do with this except that these are the things I’m thinking about while nursing the baby.)
Holly says
I would probably try the media contact for any of the companies. You may have already seen this, but I tried a slightly different Google search, and looked for “designs stuffed animals for” and came across:
http://cd001960.home.mindspring.com/planlist.htm
Which is from 1998 (I’m shocked there is even anything from 1998 online!), but it mentions this woman as a designer for several stuffed animal manufacturers. And if you google her name, she appears to still be somewhat involved in the bear industry.
abbyjane says
Thank you, Holly! Yes, she looks like the may have designed the first beanie baby, which is pretty cool. I would love to read one of the industry newsletters to hear more about how their sewing patterns are designed. I am feeling intimidated about their media contacts. Do you really think they would talk to me?
Sharon says
Abby — are you on Linkdin? I did a quick search on Gund/Enesco — the design director for Gund in Edison NJ appears to be a member — no name unless you are a paid member but it appears you can send an email
Mhairi says
Hi
I know this is a long way away for you but the lady who owns this shop – http://www.theteddybearshop.net.au/ designs teddies for the shop and is involved in the whole process. Their brand is hibernation. The site isn’t great but Caroline who owns the store is friendly and helpful and might be willing to give you some advice and she might know of the American contacts for GUND and the like.
I would try a smaller manufacturer who is going to be less concerned about stealing and that sort of thing. If you can find a boutique company you might have more luck.
Hope you can find what you are looking for.
Holly says
While I agree with Mhairi that the bigger companies might be concerned about stealing, etc., you should not be intimidated at all by approaching the media contacts. (I know, I come at this from a journalism perspective!) If they are smart they will realize that blogs are also media outlets today, so if they want publicity for their companies, they should be open to doing interviews with bloggers.
Lauren says
Abby, Do you subscribe to magazines like this? http://www.teddybearandfriends.com/
They have interviews with designers and manufacturers that might give you some ideas. You might also try contacting the instructors at the FIT program in toy design: http://www.fitnyc.edu/2825.asp
and this appears to be toy pattern design software: http://www.livesforce.com/index_eng.html
I apologize if these are resources you already have. I just think the websites might give you some more leads on who to contact in the toy-making world for the info you want.
Lauren says
Oh, depending upon what you’re trying to do, you might also talk with Lauren at American Duchess http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/ who has recently had her shoe designs manufactured in China. She might be able to tell you her process and avoid the issues of competition/intellectual property, since what you want to do is so different.
Lauren says
And also, here’s a guy at RISD who was lead product designer at Hasbro. Instructors are notoriously generous with their contacts and information. http://www.risd.edu/Industrial_Design/Khipra_Nichols/
Joana says
Maybe you could contact Annie Hulden
http://www.anniehulden.com/contact/contact%20page.html
She designs toys for Ikea, among other things.
Your book is one of my favorites 🙂
abbyjane says
Wouldn’t you know it I canceled my LinkedIn account this morning. It never seemed useful to me until now!
abbyjane says
Thank you, Mhairi. Contacting a smaller company is an interesting thought.
abbyjane says
Hi Lauren,
Thank you very much for the magazine recommendation. I did see that FIT offered toy design classes, but hadn’t thought of contacting a professor. Great ideas.
To be clear, I don’t actually want to have any of my designs manufactured or mass produced. I am just curious about how mass produced toys are designed and how their sewing patterns are created.
abbyjane says
And RISD is very near me. An excellent suggestion.
abbyjane says
Joana,
Thank you for your nice words about my book!
I had never heard of Annie Hulden, but after a quick look at her site I am so intrigued. I will try to get in touch with her. Her work is amazing. My baby is currently in love with a brown spotted dog grandma bought her at Ikea.
Edie says
try searching for plush designers, plushie designers, softie designers, stuffie designers
all alternate names for stuffed animals.
I did a quick search for plushie designer interviews (and plush designer interviews) and got quite a few results, albeit I am not sure exactly what you are looking for… but it is another thing to try.
abbyjane says
Thank you for the search term suggestions. I will keep trying. I did contact the woman who designs for Ikea (see comment above) so hopefully she'll respond.