My name is Emily Koons and I am a toy designer and artist from the San Francisco Bay Area. My love of art goes back all the way to early childhood. Throughout my childhood I explored different styles and techniques. I initially wanted master realism but really enjoyed cartoons and impressionism too. I even wanted to be a manga artist at one point in time. I started out in fine art but always had a love for toys. I spent four summers as a camp counselor and enjoyed making felt puppets with my campers. The felt puppets were the first time I played around with beading and from there I explored working with beads as a medium for fine art. In 2017 I returned to my love of toys and by creating bead work for collectable dolls. I worked at the Palo Alto American Girl store for 3½ years and that experience combined with my bead work helped me decide to pursue toy design. That led me to the Otis College of Art and Design where I have been studying Toy Design for the past 3 years. I have enjoyed learning about digital drawing techniques and how to develop toy concepts. I hope my love of fine art and toys shows though in my work.