Pea in my Soup: A02: Designer Investigation (3)

Ruth Handler

Ruth Mosko was born November 4,1916 in Denver, Colorado. She married her husband Elliot Handler in 1938. The couple started their own business named Elzac in 1941. The company was a great success selling everything from jewelry to common household items. Unsatisfied with their success, they began making picture frames while working for a man by the name of Harold Matson. The three created what is today known as one of the worlds greatest toy companies, Mattel in 1945.

Ruth Handler came up with the idea of an adult doll, after seeing her children playing with paper dolls. The doll took three years to create. The 11-½ inch blond doll with heels made its debut as “Barbie Teenage Fashion Model” at the American Toy Fair in New York in 1959. Over 350,000 Barbie’s were sold within the first year of production. Ken, named after Ruth’s son, was created shortly after.

In 1970 Ruth Handler was diagnosed with breast cancer. Being unpleased, with the lack of artificial breasts on the market, she created her own line of realistic artificial breasts called “Nearly Me”. She became an advocate for early detection of breast cancer and worked with many women who were going through what she was. Ruth was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1997. Ruth Handler passed away in 2002 at the age of 85.

I chose to find information on Ruth Handler because I wanted to find an object I didn’t know who had designed it. I thought Barbie would be the perfect thing. Practically everyone has seen or heard about Barbie, but I doubt many people know the story behind it or who created it. I know I didn’t. It is amazing to see how far Barbie has come along. When you walk past the toy isles in a store, you know when you’re passing the Barbie isle because it is practically glowing pink! Becoming a toy designer has crossed my mind a few times before, and if I do, then I want the isles in which my toys sit to glow with colors too. I think it is really cool that Ruth Handler was not just a designer, but a businesswoman as well. She and her husband started from the ground up and were successful. I’m honestly not as concerned with being successful moneywise as I am with having fun and enjoying my job as an industrial designer. And who knows maybe I will work for Mattel one day. That would be sweet.