Hi Steven! Thank you for creating tBR cartoons for our readers and now sharing a bit of yourself with our readers. What do you do in our industry?

I lead the design department at Mary Meyer Stuffed Toys. With the help of our toys, we try to get the biggest oohs and aahs at baby showers and birthday parties.

What is your claim to fame? 

Years and years of continuing my grandmother’s legacy of creating and selling endearing toys. We have great teams here. Designers, salespeople, pickers. packers, and all the support staff needed to keep our family-run, 92 year old company going strong.

What are you still hoping to accomplish?

I’d love to bring some of our more popular stuffed toys to life in children’s picture books and wall art. Can you tell I am an artist at heart?

Do you have a mantra you live by?

I can’t say I live by it every moment, but if I were to give a commencement address, I’d say “MOMENTUM is everything!” There is no denying the physics of momentum (it takes more energy to get in the air than to keep flying).  It’s also psychological… it’s crucial to have projects that need your attention. It’s the work that keeps me going.

Why and how did you get into the Toy and Game industry?

Believe it or not, I was born into the toy business. My grandmother was Mary Meyer. Our family’s toy factory was right behind our house in Vermont. I was surrounded by cutters, seamstresses, stuffers, and shippers. Looking back, it was totally unique.

What keeps you up at night?

My kids’ future. I guess I read too much news.

Why and how did you get into the Toy and Game industry?

I was probably carried through the Mary Meyer toy factory in my first weeks of life. Now, six decades later…  I’m still here. That is either depressing or awesome. I love product design and the creative process of developing toys, art, and stories. During the summers, I worked in our factory running a cutting machine. The same type is used in the garment industry. One slip and there goes a finger or two. The school year was spent earning a degree in Industrial Design. Later, Dad taught me pattern making. That has been a big help. I never learned to sew because I was surrounded by lots of excellent seamstresses who were happy to sew my prototypes. We call it rapid prototyping. You could create a different toy every day when you had that kind of in-house help. So, I have always thought I was just a regular guy… I just had an irregular life.

What are you working on now?

Our lines for Everyday, Mary Meyer Baby, Taggies, and some private label work for… oh, that’s private… hint: they are names you know well.

If you look back on yourself 10 years ago, is this where you thought you would be?

Our family sold Mary Meyer to Aurora World a year ago. I wasn’t expecting that ten years ago. They have been wonderful partners, making very few changes. We are still creating and selling beautiful toys as we always have. So people do ask, “Why sell after 92 years?” The answer is, my brothers and I are all in our 60’s. The next generation isn’t excited by Mary Meyer the way we were. And convincing that generation to stay in small town Vermont is a challenge. Most young people around here are headed to Boston and New York… or Colorado… must be that Vermont skiing thing.

Also, ten years ago, I did not expect the tariffs, AI, supply issues, and a host of changes in our retail landscape. We have no control over retailers going belly up.

If we were in a zombie apocalypse, where would you hide?

I’m answering this from a house on a hill. This seems like a good place to stay put. I’ll see them coming.

What was your favorite project to date?

Working with mohair bear artists was cool. Attending the Teddy Bear Convention at Epcot Center, meeting artists there, drawing for kids waiting at restaurants, being a minor-minor celebrity was fun. I even got talked into selling our mohair bears live on HSN. That was exciting but I wouldn’t try it again. It was the right time, the right toys, the right audience.

What trends do you see in toys and games that excite or worry you?

Anything to do with AI and toys is both worrisome and exciting. At Toy Fair in March, an inventor came to me with a toy that filled me with wonder and dread at the same time. Do you think it had an AI component?

What advice can you give to inventors who are presenting new toy ideas to you?

It’s very common advice. Please do your homework. Know who we sell to. Do we create commercials? Do we package our toys? We are a small company. I usually tell folks, “If you expect this toy to enable you to retire early, please go to a much larger company.

What advice would you give a young adult graduating from high school or college today?

If you want to design products, get physical. Put down your phone and your computer. Touch materials. Feel the way they stretch. Are they smooth, textured, or bristly? Are they shiny?  Do they collect lint and dirt? Pick up a pencil and sketch. Repair an old stuffed toy. Look at sewing techniques, especially accouterments such as collars, straps, and ruffles. Mostly, make your design process as physical as possible. Software is handy and likely necessary today. We use it most days for specifying prototypes. I have spent decades carrying toys on my travels, watching them survive (or not) my kids’ childhoods, and putting them through the wash. I call it hands-on design, whether you’re at work or at home.

And on a job interview, INTERACT WITH THE PRODUCT! SHOW SOME EXCITEMENT. I can’t say that loud enough.

How do you define creativity?

Productivity and energy are the best indicators of creativity. Go for idea quantity over idea quality during the design process. Being overly careful and selective is the opposite of what is needed when creative solutions are the goal.

What blocks your creativity?

Inertia. Fear. Staying in my comfort zone.

How do you recharge?

Every other morning, I write for 15 minutes. Mostly about my art. Sometimes family. Some gratitude. Some goals. I try to keep it positive.

Were you obsessed with any toys, games, or objects as a kid?

When I was 12, I went to the New York Gift Show with my Dad. Back when it was at the Colosseum. We were there while Philippe Petit was on a high wire between the World Trade Towers. My Dad allowed me to buy a little golden Empire State Building. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I remember the embossed “JAPAN” on its base. I loved buildings and architecture. Lego and Lincoln Logs were my favorite toys, as you might guess. I have five siblings. You can imagine all the Lego blocks in our home.

If one of your toys could come to life, which one would you choose?

Let’s say an old, well-loved bear. He may have something to whisper in his quiet, self-assured way. Face it, there is already enough SpongeBob energy out there.

Where does Santa go on vacation?

Hmmm… my grandniece just told me she saw Santa in a parade in Boston. Since it’s summertime, I will say Cape Cod? Santa doesn’t seem like a Martha’s Vineyard dude.

What was your life like growing up?

My childhood was heavily influenced by my Dad and the toy factory in our backyard. There were about 70 employees doing all the needed steps to manufacture and ship stuffed toys around the country. My earliest memories were sweeping floors and making layouts (These were the ten-layer “plush cakes” that were guided under the presses used for cutting toy parts). Twenty-five cents and hour. Remember, family business = child labor, haha. Dad loved putting us to work. I learned too many years later that that is the German way of saying “I love you”. In a way, that little factory was also our playground. How do you hide from work? Stories for another time. When I was 11, my grandmother(Mary Meyer) even took me to our factory in West Germany for a month. She loved the “police dogs” there. I was frightened of them for 30 days.

What do you read every day and why?

Seth Godin’s email blast. It’s usually an obvious life/business insight that I have never thought about.

Do you have a nickname?

Midda. There were six kids in my family. I was number three of five boys (then a girl). So at first I was Middle Meyer, then Midda Meyer, then finally just Midda.

Do you have any kiddos?

Yes but I can’t call them kiddos anymore. A 25-year-old son in the Boston area and a 20-year-old daughter studying math in college.

Are you a dog person or a cat person?

Dog, his name is Oscar.

What is your favorite way to waste time on your phone?

It has been Instagram. I follow a lot of really great painters. I have disciplined myself lately. Down to less than ten minutes a day.

What music are you listening to now?

The National. Yes, that is the band’s name.

What’s the first thing you usually notice about people?

Generally, I notice how they put themselves together. I live in rural Vermont. Life here doesn’t really call for all that extra styling effort. But I find it fascinating to visit cities and people-watch. I never notice jewelry for some reason. No interest I guess.

What is the last time you did something for the first time?

I just took two cooking classes. I’m learning about much healthier ways to shop for ingredients and prepare meals.

Do you think there are aliens?

Chances are, yes. But they haven’t visited us. If they did, they would be super obvious about it.

What’s the furthest you have been from home?

Fly to Chongqing, China, drive two hours, take a train another two hours. That’s the spot.

Everything would have been different if…

I had landed the design job I interviewed for at Fisher-Price right after college.

I’m lucky that…

I am one of six kids. We all share the task of caring for our mother. Four of us do our own thing at Mary Meyer. I have been able to focus on design while they oversee finance, warehousing and the technology. And I’m lucky I met my wife… truly, she completes me.