It doesn’t matter how you get started — only that you do.
Here are a few images from my offices throughout the years.
Before I began working at the toy startup Worlds of Wonder, I designed life-sized animals for the plush company Dakin in a little apartment.
The apartment was extremely small, but that was okay, because I only needed a little area.
This is where I learned to become a pattern maker so I could design better plush animals. This skill was self-taught.
A couple of months later, I began working my first real job at Worlds of Wonder in Fremont, California. This was my office on Technology Drive.
In my spare time, I would design and make Disney characters just for pleasure.
I even designed a life-sized Goofy to sit next to me at my desk!
I continued designing Disney characters for fun in a townhouse in Fremont while at Worlds of Wonder.
After I left Worlds of Wonder, my wife and I moved to Modesto, California, and this was my new home office.
My love of designing Disney characters eventually led to actual work — for a time, I designed plush characters for Disney movies and theme parks, as well as Mattel.
Here is an image from my office in Turlock, California that I shared with my office manager James Shehan!
And here’s my office today, in Lake Tahoe.
As you can see, I got my start by designing plush animals. Creating things in fabric was fun and easy. Later, I used the same skills to begin creating new things out of plastic.
Eventually, I began designing new products for the packaging industry. The common thread between all of them?
Working with paper first. Using paper was fast, easy, and enjoyable for me. All of my designs in plush and plastic started with paper.
How did you get your start?
You never know where your journey is going to take you!
Looking back, the only thing that was important to me was being able to create and then sharing that creativity with you.
Thanks for reading,
Stephen Key
inventRight CoFounder
