The Art of Scaling: From Handmade to Factory-Produced Designer Toys

I'm often asked about the production process, and there's no one-size-fits-all answer. For my small studio, this question became crucial when I released my Foxpresso toy. Like many of my toys, I launched it as a pre-order, planning to release 25 pieces in the red fox colourway and 25 in the silver fox colourway.

Since then, I've made it a rule: if I sell more than 20 pieces of an art toy, I'll use a local shop or factory to help me cast them, and then I'll hand paint them. Don't get me wrong, painting 20 figures isn't simple either. Each Foxpresso figure had 10 parts, meaning I was painting 200 pieces in total, which strained my eyes, hands, and especially my back.

 For limited runs of 100-200 pieces, I use a factory. Since there are none in the EU, I work with one in Hong Kong, and I love their work.

When I started this Designer Toy journey, I wore multiple hats - from sketching to sculpting, 3D printing, molding, casting, priming, airbrushing, and hand painting. Each of these skills is something you can master, but you need to ask yourself which you enjoy most or want to excel at. I'm not saying you can't do it all yourself, but if you do, be prepared to release only 1-2 toys a year. If that aligns with your goals, go for it. I enjoyed each step when I started because I was curious and wanted to learn the entire process, from concept to shipping.

This experience made me a better artist, designer, and business owner. I began to understand the intricacies of each stage, the cost of materials, how to design toys for easier casting and production, and even how to create art toys that are easier to ship.

Although we're creating art pieces, they're still products that need to be produced, shipped, and profitable while maintaining high quality, beautiful finishes, and solid craftsmanship. Designing and producing your own toy, even if just to understand the process, shaped me into the artist and designer I am today.

I hope you found this article helpful, if you would like to learn more about the process that goes behind Designer Toys, you can join me on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/karmieh 

And you can check out my YouTube channel  https://www.youtube.com/@karmieh where I post videos about Making of Art Toys, tools, paints, primers and evertyhing you need to know to create your own art toy.