A puppet designer is a person who designs and creates

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

s for themselves or for other

ventriloquists Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is ve ...

and

puppeteers A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from ...

Puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a perform ...

predates

written history Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world hist ...

in many cultures , and seems to have evolved from the mask. In Eastern and Western Europe the art of puppetry is alive and well-respected and often nationally funded as it is part of national identity, similar to opera and ballet with which puppetry has crossed-over many times. As essentially a form of sculpture, puppet design has not suffered the fate of many nearly extinct crafts, however there are fewer puppet designers than puppeteers, especially as many puppets are mass-produced and sold in stores. However, there are a few modern day workshops who solely specialise in puppet design, for instance in London, Puppets Magic Studio operates a workshop dedicated to producing hand made puppets. In the United States, puppetry is primarily perceived as children's entertainment, though a few puppet designers have made the art form accessible to adult audiences. Popular American puppet designers include Bill Baird,

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets and '' Fraggle Rock'' (1983–1987) and ...

, and

Julie Taymor Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1952) is an American director and writer of theater, opera and film. Her stage adaptation of ''The Lion King'' debuted in 1997, and received eleven Tony Award nominations, with Taymor receiving Tony Awards for Best ...

Stan Winston Stanley Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008) was an American television and film Prosthetic makeup, special make-up effects creator, best known for his work in the Terminator (franchise), ''Terminator'' series, the first three ''Jurassic Pa ...

Stan Winston Studios Stanley Winston (April 7, 1946 – June 15, 2008) was an American television and film Prosthetic makeup, special make-up effects creator, best known for his work in the Terminator (franchise), ''Terminator'' series, the first three ''Jurassic Pa ...

considers many of his character creations to be puppets and for motion pictures his operating crews join the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

because they are essentially performing directly through an inanimate, if sometimes robotic object. As they are operated directly by people and not pre-programmed, Stan Winston creations can be considered puppets rather than

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

In popular culture

Fictional puppet designers include

Mister Geppetto Geppetto ( , ), also known as Mister Geppetto, is an Italian fictional character in the 1883 novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' by Carlo Collodi. Geppetto is an elderly, impoverished woodcarver and the creator (and thus 'father') of Pinocchio ...

in ''

The Adventures of Pinocchio ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' ( ; it, Le avventure di Pinocchio ; commonly shortened to ''Pinocchio'') is a children's fantasy novel by Italian author Carlo Collodi. It is about the mischievous adventures of an animated marionette named Pinocc ...

'', and Gein in ''Rurouni Kenshin''.

References

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