6 years ago 2 years ago

Jenny Faw…Episode 46…Dibzy, Jenny Faw Designs and What Every Toy Inventor Should Know

by robert_bear 6 years ago2 years ago

Jenny Faw…Dibzy, Jenny Faw Designs and What Every Toy Inventor Should Know

Jenny Faw grew up in Manhattan, Kansas. She is now based in Providence, Rhode Island. Jenny lives in the boiler room of a former textile mill. So she inspired by nature, flowers, sunshine, ocean, sky, and especially animals! Jenny likes to pretend she is the great granddaughter of Henri Matisse. His passion for pattern and color, as well as his native technique and prolific style has always resonated with her. Jenny is a self-taught artist who joyfully breaking the rules of design.

Jenny Faw is a product designer with a 20 year track record of creating and producing top selling products for the infant and children’s home furnishings industry in addition to the gift, tabletop, bath and décor categories. Her products have been sold at Target, Babies ”R” Us, Bed Bath and Beyond, Buy Buy Baby and many other stores.

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She has licensed her own creations under the Jenny Faw label, as has partnered with manufacturers, major retailers, and China-based trading companies. Jenny has worked for major manufacturers during her career including Hallmark, Current, Mickey and Company, and Summer Infant.

Jenny designs and consults with inventors, manufacturers and retailers for brand identity, design and product development. Her clients include: Target, Baby’s Journey, Dorel, Hasbro, Sassy, and more.

The Invention Stories Podcast Episode 46 Recap

Jenny Faw grew up in Manhattan, Kansas. She was a very creative child always drawing, always doodling. Jenny was born into an academic family, her father was a nuclear engineer and a professor and mother a theater major. She traveled overseas with her father and that sparked her lifelong interest in the outside world.

Jenny attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence, which host a design school heavily funded by Hallmark. So she felt like she attended the right college.

Upon graduation, Jenny worked at Hallmark and later became VP of Fashion for Summer Infant. She was charge of product development and fashion and her focus was the mom-baby-kid space.

Jenny enjoys art directing and helping and promoting people. She believes the keys to becoming an expert in the toy industry come from understand product development and manufacturing. And most of all understanding how retail and manufacturers work, including all the details involved.

Following her experience at Summer Infant, Jenny and two of her friends, who would later become her business partners at Dibzy attended the All Baby and Child show in Las Vegas. Their goal was to drum up some consulting work. They learned there was a real need to help inventors connect with the best manufactures for them. In addition, there was a need to help inventors get their dreams market ready. And that’s how Dibzy was born.

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Jenny explains in detail how Dibzy was formed. It was to help inventors launch the ideas that manufactures would like to have dibs on. The URL is GetDibzy.com.

Some of the questions that I ask Jenny in this interview are:

How is Dibzy different than her own Jenny Faw Designs?

What advice would Jenny give to someone has very limited experience and has an idea for an invention?

How do you know if the idea you have is good?

What trends do you see in the toy industry currently?

Why are boardgames so popular today?

How would you approach designing a game?

If you had created a game, would you try to manufacture it yourself or seek out a licensing agreement?

How should a inventor approach patenting their game?

What are some groups to join and what trade shows do you recommend a toy/game inventors attend?

What makes a good pitch?

Which are some experiences have you had working with Louise White?

How do you identify the difference between a trend and a fad?

There are so much great information to share from this podcast. So whether you are a toy or game designer or have an idea for one…or interested in listening to a valuable interview, please click the button on the top left of this page to download/listen.

Two Podcast Recommendations:

Invention Stories Podcast Episode 32…Jesse James Gerken and Huck Hopper

Jesse James Gerken is an author, product developer, comic, blues harmonica player and forth generation working class union electrician. And Huck Hopper is a versatile table top party game with a focus on education, motor skills, silly challenges, and fulfilling rewards designed by Jesse James Gerken and his ten year old daughter Ari Jai Gerken. So this episode shares the game journey from the inventor’s point of view. And…

The Invention Stories Podcast Episode 39…Louise White Designer/Inventor at Me First! Designs, Inc.

Freelance Inventor, Louise White has spent nearly 20 years working as a freelance inventor, developing products from ideas. And that is why we contacted Louise to interview. So this episode shares the game creation journey from a professional independent inventor’s point of view.

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If you are new to inventing, we invite you to visit Episode 1 with Forbes Riley.

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Thank you for reading this and please…tell a friend.

Jenny Faw Design

Jenny Faw Designs is a one stop resource for infant, kids and adult product design and development for soft and hard goods from creation, sourcing and production through delivery.

They provide every aspect of product development from the nitial consultation and design concepts, through production. This includes: trade show coverage, trend and market research, full service design studio, CAD system, quality assurance expertise, asset management, sampling, sourcing capabilities and factory resources.

Vast Experience

Jenny Faw Design has vast experience overseeing production at factories in China with 15 years of experience in the industry working with key retailers. They help clients establish overall design tone and fashion points of view for their products. They tailor the overarching look to key consumers. Jenny Faw Design creates style guides to use as product developing tools to drive home the brand concept and to boost presence at retail. In addition, they provide trends support by subscribing to the top trends services and backing up their product design work with market reports and trend studies.

They also collaborate with product design teams and factories, manage design direction, and champion creative product development via presentations, line reviews, merchandising, plan-o-grams, packaging and sales presentation to key retail partners.

Dibzy - Dream Big. Make it Happen.

What is Dibzy?

Dibzy makes dreams happen by innovating, creating, building and connecting. They discover original family-oriented designs and imaginative baby products, and we bring them to life. Dizby connects their network of talented designers and inventors with experienced manufacturing partners

If you have a great new product idea, they can help you bring ideas to life with their team of seasoned product development and marketing experts. Dibzy provides consulting services and the resources you need to design, develop, source, and market your product. They will showcase your product in their curated.

If you’re a manufacturer in need of a satellite product development team to help with innovation, Dibzy is a one-stop resource for every aspect of innovation.

The Dibzy platform includes consulting services, sourcing, designer showroom, and manufacturing partners. It is a destination for the aspiring entrepreneur, budding designer and seasoned inventor.

The Dibzy Team

Carolyn Sullivan-Taylor

Chief Executive Officer

email carolyn@getdibzy.com

Carolyn Sullivan-Taylor is the Chief Mompreneur at Dibsy. She helps other people achieve their dreams, while fulfilling her own dream by living her passion. And she knows her stuff. Carolyn is a seasoned executive who’s led business development, marketing and sales for leading education-tech and juvenile-products companies. Carolyn’s efforts led to sales growth at leading retailers Target, Toys “R” Us, K-mart, and Burlington Coat Factory. She’s an expert in driving strategic initiatives and delivering revenue growth. Carolyn is as comfortable in developing an innovator’s new business as she is in negotiating licensing agreements with Walt Disney, Warner Bros. and DIC Entertainment.

Jenny Faw

Chief Product Officer

email jennyfaw@getdibzy.com

See above.

Shelly Meridith Delice

Chief Creative Officer

email shelly@getdibzy.com

Shelly often plays at work, but that’s great – it’s part of her job! She is a talented creative director, illustrator and toy designer. So she has a perfect reason for goofing off in the name of business. After working for Walt Disney in product development, Shelly started her own design studio in New York City. She has created products and designs for Walt Disney, Nickelodeon, Scholastic, Hasbro, Jakks Pacific, MGA and Sassy Baby. Shelly has also invented and manufactured her own award-winning toy line, THE ROOMIES. She also invents, develops and licenses her own creations, including SHOEZIES, FUNNY FEET, JABBERS, UNRAVELS crayons, BEAN BAG BELLIES, JUST CUTE, BEAN BAG BELLIES and PUZZLINGS. In addition, her latest inventions is a preschool language-learning tool called JINGLE BILINGUAL. And because that’s not enough accomplishments, Shelly is also a great artist who has illustrated several books.

Parminder Saini

Chief Technical Officer

email parminder@getdibzy.com

So Parminder Saini is the enlightened man who partnered with the three women at Dibzy. Although he is a jack-of-all-trades entrepreneur, Parminder’s expertise in e-commerce, business, and technology is a key ingredient in helping their innovators succeed. Also, he’s earned advanced degrees in computer applications, computer science, and marketing. Parminder is the founder of the tech business ABS, and has more than 20 years of experience developing, marketing, selling and delivering complex, high-end technology-inspired business solutions to Fortune 1000 corporations and the middle-market. Finally, Parminder is an active member of the community and serves on the board of the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Film Festival.