The stuffed animal market is substantial, with a global market size valued at USD 12.65 billion in 2024.

Stuffed animals are toxic trash. Nothing about these things will ever degrade.

These are plastic-stuffed, plastic-coated items that we only purchase NEW for children, and then they go to the landfill

There are a lot of these things, they are adorable, but hardly ever used by more than one set of kids, then it’s garbage. I do my best to get used ones. At least second hand store, if not goodwill. I previously noticed my strays and plastic lids but these slip ped by, I now see them as little toxic things but they make great puppets. At least these get a second life. Is that better? I think so, not sure though.

This all started when I wanted to get my kid off screens and realized I needed to get off my screens myself.

The puppets began when I wanted to bring a character, Dr Doctor, PHD, into real life. I ordered a skeleton from Czech Marionettes, and I was hooked.

I ordered a bunch more. Antiques, kits, Hazelle Marionettes, and puppet show discards. The kids’ ones are clunky and hard to use; the professional ones are sleek and responsive, but they tangle easily and are hard to transport. Though the hanging styles were all different, they are all based on the idea of performance. But I never really want to perform with them. They’re fun to play with.

The idea here is to make them easy to use, natural to dance with, and hard to tangle. This is a marionette you can put down, pick it up again, it just works.

The joy of puppets is not watching someone else play; it’s playing with puppets yourself. Great dance party buddies.

I’ve looked at a bunch of marionettes and made some improvements to the overall concept. Here are a few:

• String less + string shorter + stabilizing string = no tangle when it’s dropped

• With only Ribbons for the arms, A wooden lever for the legs, and a twerk string. The movements feel different so you won’t mix up what they do, making them an extention of you very quickly. Try it, you’ll be suprised how fast you pick it up.

• All the puppets come with a certificate of authenticity.

• All controllers are equipped with our patented “A Eye” So they are easy to use. (That’s where you put your thumb)

My career has centered around User Experience design. I started as a visual designer, pivoted to UX, and worked my way up to Creative Director. Moved away from Agencies in 2018 to the client side, most recently at Intel.com, where I served as Experience Design Team Lead.

In parallel to the design work I’ve completed 25 books, hundreds of paintings, produced six albums, a patent for a magnetic spinning chalkboard, five board games, a puppet circus, a movie, back in the day a musical, one movie soundtrack and once I made a boat out of Legos that really floated. None of this has been a commercial success. I’m especially bad at turning art into money.