In 2013 I unveiled my big new project... After years of making mohair teddy bears and animals that looked like old playthings for adult collectors world-wide, I refocused my attention back to it's source. My goal for the POLKA DOT CLUB was to create future heirlooms—rugged teddy bears built for real imaginative play, inspired by vintage toys but wholly modern play-things built for modern kids.

Below is the first (of so many) photo shoots for the PDC. Gathering these images today feels both fresh and wildly nostalgic all at once. I worked with Sarah Wert from Modern Kids in San Francisco. We had met in art school, both of us photo majors... both of us capable of making images of this new project, but seeing it all for the first time through her eyes, laid the ground work for the joy of collaboration that later fueled so much of the PDC.