Alton Takeyasu

A native Southern Californian, Alton got his start in 1982 with a BA in Illustration from Ventura College in Ventura, CA and a BS in 1984 in Transportation Design, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA

Alton started out with another toy Company; from 1984 to 1991, where he worked as a Staff Designer for Kenner Toys in Cincinnati, OH. 

He started his career with Mattel in 1991 and was responsible for all action figure and licensed entertainment-based properties and internally developed intellectual properties including Superman Returns, Toy Story, Bugs Life, Pixar Cars, Harry Potter, Sponge Bob, Max Steel creation team, HeMan, NBA, Street Sharks, Rock'em Sock'em, Ghostbusters, Star Wars, Robocop, MASK, Batman, Justice League.  Starting in 2006 he became the Senior Director for Mattel Toys Wheels Design, he worked as the Chief Creative Mattel Hot Wheels for Real exhibit at Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Hot Wheels full-size concept car designs: HWTF El Camino, HWTF Double Loop Cars, HWTF Barrel Roll Buggy; Chief Creative: Hot Wheels for Real Double Loop Dare 2012 X Games World Record, Hot Wheels for Real Indy Jump World Record 2011; Hot Wheels Apptivity Apple App and toy, Hot Wheels Test Facility Chief Creative for design and content, Hot Wheels Maniacs, Speed Racer Movie, Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 animated series.  In 2015 he became the Key Principal Designer for the Hot Wheels brand.

2016 – 2017 he was lead designer for the Mattel CGT Team working on Sproutling, Baby Tree, Nursery of the Future and Development Centers.

2017 – 2019- he was Chief Designer for Mattel Roulette.

2019- Present Mattel Creation Station. A small, experienced team that supports all Mattel design teams with innovation, creative solutions and technical expertise.

From 2003 to 2014- he was a part-time Instructor at Otis College of Art and Design, Mattel-sponsored Toy, Action Figure and Vehicle projects instructor and Independent Instructor for Action Figure and Vehicle Design classes.

Hot Wheels Diecast cars designed: Carbonator, Teegray, Fast Cash, Design By Felipe Massa Eagle Massa, Team Hot Wheels Villain Rev car and Grease Rod, Young Groot Go Kart, Star Wars character cars: Anakin flip car, Rancor Monster, Sith Inquisitor, General Grievous, Star Wars Rebels Chopper, Captain Phasma and First Order Stormtrooper, Disney Character Car Minnie Mouse, Sushi Tuner.

Larry Wood

             Larry graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles and headed for Detroit where he worked for the Ford Design Center on the GT 40 project and the '69 Mustang. After the first snow, Larry decided a warmer climate was more to his liking and headed back to Los Angeles. There he signed with Lockheed, designing aircraft interiors.

            “The great events of my life have always happened at parties.” Larry said. It was at a party that Howard Rees (the principal Hot Wheels® designer in '69) told Larry that he was tired of designing toy cars and wanted to move to space toys. Howard promised Larry that he would mention him for the job he was vacating. The rest, as they say, is Hot Wheels® history.

            Larry's first design for Mattel was the Tri Baby/Buzz Off. He continued to work on many of the models from 1970 through 1974 and almost all the vehicles from 1975 through the eighties.  Two of Larry's favorite Hot Wheels® cars are the Passion and the "Elwoody" ('50 Buick) in 1/64th scale, the 1/24th scale '49 Merc. 

            Some of the cars he designed include the Tri-Baby, Bugeye, Bye-Focal, Classic Cord, Grass Hopper, The Hood, Jet Threat, Mutt Mobile, Olds 442, Special Delivery, Strip Teaser, T-4-2, Street Rodder, '31 Doozie, Super Van, Ramblin' Wrecker, Vega Bomb, Neet Streeter, '56 Hi-Tail hauler, '57 Chevy, GMC Motor Home, '57 T-Bird, A-OK, 3-Window '34, '40s Woodie, Greyhound MC-8, Old Number 5, Classic Cobra, ’65 Mustang Convertible, '32 Ford Delivery, Propper Chopper and the '56 Flashsider.

            Other cars Larry designed for the collectible line include 1949 Mercury, Dodge Viper GTS, ‘38 Ford C.O.E., '59 Woodie, '69 Riviera Chevrolet, '53 Bel Air, Chevelle, Olds 442 and the Plymouth Hemi GTX.

            He also did the HWC Mobil Oil series and both the Preferred line and the Collectible line singles for 2002 and 2003, Classics, Street Show, RLC & the Ultra Hots line. Larry started “Lwood Design” and worked with Carroll Shelby on designing the 2011 Shelby GT350.

            Larry has also designed the Bone Shaker, ’66 Batmobile, Straight Pipes, Corvette Grand Sport, H₂GO, Tri Baby Too, A-OK, ’29 Pickup, Cadillac Pickup, ’41 Willys, Haul of Flame (the Hot Wheels® shuttle) and all the Larry’s Garage cars.

            In 2019 Shelby loaned Larry a Shelby GT500 to go to the Chicago Legends show and then drove on Route 66 back to L.A., and He didn’t get a ticket!

            In 2023 Larry introduced his new die cast customs with the “Boneshaker, Larry’s towing”. The same year, 2023, Larry was inducted into the Detroit “Automobile Hall of Fame” bringing Hot Wheels® to Motown.  

            After 50 years of designing Hot Wheels®, Larry retired and now spends his time in “Elwood’s Garage” working on his full-sized cars.

Julian Koiles

Julian Koiles has been with Hot Wheels® packaging since 2014, designing and art directing the packaging for the Hot Wheels® premium lines, which includes: Pop Culture, Car Culture, 1:43rd, Team Transport, Premium Two Packs, Hot Wheels® Boulevard, Premium Diorama sets, and Premium Fast & Furious. Along with the Premium line, Julian is also responsible for designing and art directing the packaging for RLC.

Julian’s passion for cars, design, and serving the packaging needs of the Hot Wheels® collector is evident in the painstaking research and development he does in the process of creating each and every package.

Julian graduated from Academy of Art College with a major in illustration, and a minor in 3d modeling. Prior to coming onboard at Mattel as a packaging designer, Julian had worked as an illustrator, and a product designer at various consumer product companies.

Julian was introduced to the world of cars when he bought his first car; a 1966 Chevy Caprice Coupe. From that moment on cars would become an important part of his life, first personally, and then later professionally. Julian continues to be a “car guy” currently driving a 2019 Ford Mustang GT, and a 2022 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500.

Mike Zarnock is an American actor, published author and columnist, who writes collector guides and articles about Hot Wheels® Toy Cars & Accessories since 2002. He is also producer/editor and host of "Hot Wheels TV" on YouTube.

Mike's massive collection, world notoriety and World Records have not only earned him the most distinguished label: "One of the world's leading Hot Wheels® authorities." but it has also raised him to an elite new level of collecting, as only a handful of collectors around the world have been classified as a "Super Collector!"

Did you know?

Mike has written 14 Hot Wheels® Collector Guides, 100’s of Magazine Articles, has his own Official Hot Wheels Coloring Book, is a 3 Time Guinness World Record holder, has been featured in 2 "Ripley's Believe It Or Not!" books, been featured in numerous collector books, magazines, news shows and documentaries around the world, has 3 Hall of Fame Rings, Hot Wheels produced his old Race Car as a Hot Wheels® Car and has been Featured in TV and Film!

*2021 - Host on the History Channel's TV Series "The Toys That Built America" Episode 3 - Toy Car Wars

*2020 - Self on NBC's Little Big Shots TV Series Episode 1 - Icing on the Cake
             Hot Wheels Expert/Hot Wheels Track Design

*2018 - Host on the History Channel's TV Documentary - "Hot Wheels: 50th Anniversary Special"
             Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the most popular and disruptive toy in the world, Hot Wheels®.

*2017 - Featured in the film- Redlines to Treasure Hunts: The Cars, The Collectors, The Community.
             A documentary delving deep into the sub-culture of Hot Wheels Collecting around the world.

*2015 - Featured in - Passion or Obsession: Inside the World of Extreme Collecting.

For a full bio and to learn more about Mike Zarnock… Go to www.MikeZarnock.com

Mario Godoy

Mario Godoy has been with the Hot Wheels DieCast Team since September 2015, designing original art and graphics for the Hot Wheels Monster Trucks lines, Super Rigs, and Team Transports.  He also works on Entertainment Cars, Character Cars and Mario Kart.  

Mario graduated from Woodbury University with a major in Animation.   Mario grew up in East Los Angeles.  Prior to joining Hot Wheels, Mario was a freelancing graphic designer and Illustrator.  He’s done art for T-shirts, original logos, and custom art for tattoos.   

Mario’s passion for cars began when he first saw iconic fantasy vehicles like 1989’s Batmobile or the time traveling DeLorean.   Vehicles that merged reality with fantasy would always capture his imagination.   His love for cars overall is in the artform from concept to final design and craftsmanship.  Automotive design that merges both fantasy and functionality always inspire him.   He’s a toy and comic book collector as well.   Loves attending San Diego Comic Con for all things in Sci-Fi, Comics, and Fantasy. 

Phil Riehlman

Phil started working for Mattel about 25 years ago designing such things as the Attack Pack line, deco projects, track sets and working with Bruce Baur on the Silhouette II and Twin Mill II. The first Hot Wheels® model Phil designed was the VW Bus, in 1996. Although he did not design any models for the 1997 line, that year he became one of the main designers for the basic line, designing a number of the 1998 basic cars (most cars are not issued the year they were designed).  Currently he is Principle Designer in Hot Wheels Die Cast Design and has done over 200 castings.

Since then Phil has created some of the most popular cars among collectors including the’56 Ford Truck, ’70 Chevelle SS, Fiat 500C, Anglia Panel Truck, ’68 El Camino, ’41 Willys, Mini Cooper, Surfin’ School Bus, La Troca, Ford Thunderbolt, Plymouth GTX, Fright Bike, ’40 Ford Coupe, Rocket Oil Special, Volkswagen New Beetle Cup, Corvette Stingray, Swoop Coupe, Meyers Manx,’69 Dodge Charger, ’68 Chevy Nova, VW Pickup, ’49 Chevy Fleetline, Mustang Funny Car, Hummer H3T, ’69 Pontiac GTO, Karmann Ghia, ’69 Corvette, 2006 Dodge Viper Coupe,’55 Chevy Panel,’70 Dodge Hemi Challenger, ’66 Chevy Nova and the ’66 Batmobile.

Phil’s 2009 designs include the 2010 Ford Mustang GT, ’71 Dodge Demon, ’70 Chevelle SS Wagon, Dune It Up, 2010 Camaro SS, ’70 AAR Barracuda, Jeep C2A, C6 Corvette Convertible and the ’66 Ford Fairlane GT.2010 Castings: Toon’d VW Beetle, Nissan Skyline GTR-R34, 2010 Shelby GT-500, Backslider, ‘62 Ford Mustang Concept, ‘49 Drag Merc, ’71 Maverick Grabber, ’71 Dodge Charger, Blown Delivery, Volkswagen T1 Drag Bus, Ford Focus RS, Citroen C4 Rally

2011 Castings: 2010 Ford Shelby GT-500 Super Snake, ’69 COPO Corvette, Dodge Challenger Drift Car, ’63 Ford Mustang II Concept, ’68 COPO Camaro, ’63 Studebaker Champ, Drag Beetle, ’70 Dodge Power Wagon, ’67 Custom Ford Mustang Coupe.

2012 Castings: Lamborghini Aventador, ’52 Hudson Hornet, Monster Dairy Delivery, Chevrolet SS

2013 Castings: Drag Dairy, Muppets Beaker Character Car, Sponge Bob Hot Rod, ‘68 Barracuda Formula S

2014 Castings: 1974 Brazilian Dodge Charger

2015 Castings: Dodge Charger 500

2016 Castings: Nintendo Bowser Character Car

2018 Castings: ’17 Jeep Wrangler & Electrack, and much more on the way.

Brendon Vetuskey

Brendon joined Mattel, Inc. in 2007 working on the Hot Wheels Track & Play Sets team. He developed the 2009-2011 Trick Tracks sets, as well as the 4-Lane Elimination Race & Super 6-Lane Raceway sets. From that he was the lead designer on Monster Jam for two years, spent a few years managing the Hot Wheels Entertainment Track & Play sets team, and came back to designing full time in 2016. He is currently the co-line lead for 1:64 mainline diecast singles and diecast design lead for the Red Line Club diecast vehicles.

While on the track team Brendon got his start on designing 1:64 Hot Wheels cars with the 1967 Pontiac Firebird 400 and the 1967 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396 in 2010. Since then he’s worked on other cars like the 1972 Ford Torino Gran Sport, 1969 Shelby Mustang GT500, 1965 Mercury Comet Cyclone, 1967 Olds 442, 1967 Ford Bronco, 1970 Chevy Blazer, 1970 Dodge Charger R/T, 2011 Dodge Charger R/T, 1964 Chevrolet Chevelle SS, 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am SD455, 1981 Chevrolet Camaro, K.I.T.T., 1985  Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z, 1984 Hurst/ Olds, Subaru B.R.A.T., 1970 AMC Rebel Machine, Highway Hauler 2, 1955 Chevy Gasser, 1971 Plymouth Satellite, 1958 Plymouth Belvedere, 1976 Chevrolet Chevette, 1988 Jeep Wagoneer, 1980 Dodge Power Wagon, 2014 C.O.P.O. Camaro, K.I.T.T. Super Pursuit Mode, Mountain Mauler, Corvette Grand Sport Roadster, Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, Furious 7  1970 Dodge Off Road Charger, 2016 Camaro SS,  Gotta Go, 2017 Chevy Camaro ZL-1, Fate of the Furious Ice Charger, the Custom 1967 Pontiac Firebird (a replica of his own car), 2018 Chevy Camaro HW50th edition, 2018 Ford Mustang GT, Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, 1987 Dodge D100, 1964 Chevy Nova gasser, 1984 Pontiac Firebird, Big-Air Bel-Air, 1996 Chevy Impala SS, 1991 GMC Syclone,  2006 Pontiac GTO, “General Mayhem” 1968 Dodge Charger, “Stubby Bob” Ford F6, 2020 HW Legends winner 1970 Pontiac Trans Am, 1962 Corvette gasser, 1988 Pro Street Ford Thunderbird, Limited Grip, and the Hirohata Merc.  For the RLC line:  Custom Datsun 240Z,  GMG Hi-Po Hauler, Magnus Walker Porsche 964, 2017 Ford Raptor, 1941 Willys gasser, 1969 Chevy truck, 1955 Mercedez-Benz 300sl, 1982 Lamborghini LP500s, RWB Porsche 930, Nissan Skyline GTR BNR34, 1969 Dodge Charger R/T, 1971 DeTomaso Mangusta, 2006 BMW M3, 1932 Ford 5 window coupe, 1964 Chevy Impala SS lowrider, 1944 Willys MB, 1969 Chevy Camaro SS, 1962 Ford F100, 1991 BMW M3, 1952 Dodge Power Wagon, 1993 Ford Mustang Cobra R, 1975 Chevy Monte Carlo lowrider, “The Tradesman” Dodge van, 1990 Chevy SS454, Ryu’s 1994 Honda NSX, 1986 Porsche 959, SDCC Knight Rider K.I.T.T., 2022 AM-G63, 1995 Honda Integra Type R, 1961 Lincoln Continental, 1986 Nissan 720 mini truck, 1993 Mazda RX-7, 2022 Ford Shelby GT500 Code Red, 1992 GMC Typhoon, 1997 Toyota Supra, 1964 Dodge W100 Power Wagon, 1971 Lamborghini Miura P400 SV, 1964 Mercedes-Benz 600 and more to come!  For the 1:18 and 1:43 scale Elite lines: K.I.T.T., K.A.R.R., Herbie The Love Bug, and The Fast and the Furious Dodge Charger.

Outside of work, Brendon has been collecting Hot Wheels and other vehicle related toys since 1994 and has been designing vehicle toys throughout his entire career. When he's not at work he is likely working on his own project cars, helping others with their cars or at some car related event.

As a 3D Modeler and Sculptor, Manson has a unique job at Mattel, he takes the two-dimensional design sketches from the Hot Wheels® Design team and translates it into 3D. In the past, he had sculpted cars by hand, he now uses a computer modeling program to make 3D models of new designs.  Since 2007, he has worked on over 950 castings for Hot Wheels® and Matchbox®.

In addition to modeling the cars, Manson has designed over 60 vehicles for Hot Wheels® in the Basic Mainline and Premium Collector Lines. These include all the Back to the Future™ Time Machines, all the Ghostbusters™ Ecto cars, The Simpsons™ cars, Snoopy™, ThunderCats™, X-Jet, various Batman™ vehicles, and many others.  Basically, reliving his childhood, one project at a time.

Many of the Hot Wheels® San Diego Comic Con Exclusives were designed and/or sculpted by Manson.  He also designed many of the Hot Wheels Elite Cult Classics Line, bringing his passion for entertainment vehicles to a larger scale at 1/50, 1/43, and 1/18.  His projects included vehicles from Back to the Future™, Ghostbusters™, A Team™, Flintstones™, Scooby Doo™, Batman™, James Bond™, and other entertainment brands.

His first Hot Wheels® design was the 1981 DeLorean DMC-12.  Fun fact:  Manson drives a 1981 DeLorean DMC-12, he is well known in the DeLorean community, because of his work in Hot Wheels®.

Some of Manson’s most recent designs tap into his love of aviation and horology, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat and the Mercedes Benz 300 SL. Combing his passion for watches, he worked with IWC Schaffhausen to create retail and exclusive versions of the gull-winged sportscar, as well as the IWC Pilot’s Watch Chronograph Edition “IWC x Hot Wheels® Racing Works” project.  The aviation theme continues with the soon to be released F/A-18E Super Hornet for the Hot Wheels Premium line.

One of the high-profile projects in 2024 is the Hasbro X Mattel collaboration, Transformers X Hot Wheels Optimus Prime.  Manson was the designer and 3D modeler for this once in a lifetime collaboration.

‘Eric Han is a current Lead Designer on Hot Wheels® Die-cast Design team. 

Eric joined Mattel in 2013 and celebrated 10th yr anniversary this year. 

Eric gained experience and expertise from previous positions at Fisher-Price on Infant/preschool team in East Aurora, NY, on Core Hot Wheels® Track and playsets design portfolio spans wide from Hot Wheels City, Track Builder, Action boosted sets, haulers, Garages, and Display case. 

Eric is also a Judge on Hot Wheels Legends Tour car show and a big fan / a collector of Diecast Customs.’

Fraser Campbell joined the Hot Wheels Design Team at El Segundo in 2000 after working at Mattel's UK Office from 1998 where he worked on the Micros and Monster Jam lines.

Over the years, Fraser brings a wide variety of original designs ranging from the exotic to the contemporary. He has worked on many of the Haulers and Truckin' Transporters, 1:64^th Basic Moto with Riders, Speed Cycles, Rapid Transit Trains, Large scale Rig Transporters, 1:18^th & 1:50^th Batman vehicles as well as being the principal designer for the Monster Jam line.

Most of his designs were upscaled to the full-sized trucks for the Monster Jam circuit which included Batman, Superman, TMNT, Spiderman, Wolverine and Taz.
His other designs also include: Five-0, Avenger, Titus, Prime Evil, Illiminator, Cremator.

Now with the transition away from MJ to Monster Trucks, his latest designs include Tiger Shark (Great bite), Mega Wrex & Rhino mite.

Fraser always contributed hot designs to the line each year beginning with his first, Maelstrom. Many of Fraser’s designs pay homage to his British heritage like, Fish'd & Chip'd, Cockney Cab II and the Trouble Decker.

His Basic car designs include; Backdraft, Bling Hyperliner, Bling Lotus Esprit, Chevy Silverado w/bike, Diesel Duty, F-Racer, F1 Racer, Fast FeLion, Fast Fish, The Govner, La Fasta, Tooned Countach, Lotus Esprit, MidMill, Pharodox, Prototype H-24, Rocket fire, Sixy Beast, Hot Wheels El Camino, BMW Z4M, BMW M3GT2, Hot Wheels Camaro, Angry Birds Green Pig & Red Bird, Repo Duty, Bad to the Blade. SEMA Mustang, SEMA transit connect, Saber, Yellow submarine, Time a taxi, Volvo 240, Land Rover S2, Alfa Romeo GTV6, Rip Rod, Dodge Viper RT10, Jaguar Mk1, Lotus 49, Porsche RS 2.7 and many many more…

Today, Fraser has been the lead designer responsible for the Basics Mainline new models since June 2021.

Hi, I’m Kristina Albrecht! I joined Mattel in 2023 as a contractor for Hot Wheels® Premium and became a permanent part of the Hot Wheels® Design Team in June 2024. I create graphics for Boulevard, Pop Culture, Collector Sets, and 43rd scale cars, with some RLC, Elite64, and a few other special projects thrown in there as well!

My design journey started over 20 years ago when I was a temp graphic designer for Hot Wheels® as part of the team that brought the 1:18th scale Honda Civic Si to life. Since that time, I've been drawing vehicles of some sort or another, working not only as a freelance illustrator, car t-shirt artist, and graphic designer, but also designing graphics for Jada Toys, Maisto, and Johnny Lightning.

In the past my automotive renderings of well-known project vehicles were published in many industry magazines, including Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding, SEMA News, MiniTruckin, Truckin, StreetTrucks, Sport Truck, and 5.0 Mustang. I was heavily involved in the automotive aftermarket industry, building and bringing custom vehicles to SEMA every year from 1998 to 2004 including a custom, supercharged 2001 Ford Focus ZX3 that won the 2002 Ford Design Award. My project vehicles were featured in many magazines during that time as well.

While I do collect Hot Wheels, most of the time they’re as gifts for fellow ‘Car Friends’ when I find a casting I know they’d love. In my free time I enjoy disc golf, cooking, gardening, geeking out over my favorite fandoms, and hanging out with my family.

Bob Rosas - Engineer

It was 1968 and Hot Wheels ® were the hottest new toys for boys. Mattel used all its resources for design, engineering, and tooling and was looking every where especially in the southern California area for vendors and contract people to help them. Why vendors and contract engineers, designer’s etc? Because they just did not have the staff for all the help they needed.

At the time Bob was doing contract engineering on tooling. The company he was working for was one of several that got contracts from Mattel to design the molds for toys and especially Hot Wheels. He didn’t think much of it at the time but there he was designing a multi-cavity tool for Classic 32 Ford Vicky toy number 6250. This was the first of about 24 different ones that he worked on. He was working in Fullerton Ca and would go into Mattel in Hawthorne Ca once a week to get approval on the drawings.  He was asked to join one of the Mattel Subseries called Optigan and not too long after that  he was hired to work at Mattel in Hawthorne. He started out working tooling and then engineering and design for Barbie accessories, preschool toys and Big Jim before he was assigned to the Hot Wheels group. Bob’s first car he worked on was the Baja Bruiser whose concept was by Larry Wood. He continued working on the designs for hundreds of cars over the years. Eventually he managed the design and engineering group for Hot Wheels and directed many people on cars and sets until he left Mattel in 1989.   His group also did Masters of the Universe and Wheeled Warriors.

During those years some his biggest endeavors were his involvement in the beginnings of the tampo printing process. Some of the other projects were Sizzlers, Thunders hift 500, Machine Paks, Thrill Drivers Corkscrew, Mean Machines (motorcycles), The collectors patch series, The Heroes, Scene Machines, Spiderman’s “Web of Terror”, Scorchers, The collector books from 1981 and 1982, Steering rigs, Steering rig cabs, Sto and Go’s, Mega Force, Truck Company, Shift Kickers, Power Devils, Ultra Hots. Real Riders, Metal flake paints, Crack-Ups, Zap ‘N Go, XV Racers and many others.

Larry Wood and Bob Rosas worked together for many years and one of their personal projects was to promote the idea that we should make cars that appealed to an ever-growing collector market. We became aware of the interest in collecting Hot Wheels by grown men and women probably as far back as the late 70’s. As a result of this he encouraged Mattel make more classic cars and the cars with the “real rider” tires.

Bob has BS degrees in Engineering and Industrial Design from Cal State University Long Beach California

“Andrés Andrieu (read as "ahn-drehs") is a graphic designer who has worked at Mattel since 2022.

Born in Los Angeles, Andrés grew up fascinated by transportation, especially cars. He remembers days as a child spent with his mother as she would draw on pieces of paper and stick them onto the sides of his Hot Wheels® to imagine new cars and possibilities. Although this was partly because of the economic circumstances of his immigrant family, the idea of customizing and designing stayed with him.

He studied Studio Arts with a concentration in Graphic Design at Loyola Marymount University and also worked on transportation design at the Art Center College of Design at night. In his senior year at LMU, using the design skills he learned, he started his own clothing brand with a friend, which received a lot of attention and unexpected success. Although they did not continue growing the company, he was able to learn important skills in product design, marketing, and prioritizing customers. After graduation, he took a job as a graphic design intern at tokidoki where he quickly moved up to a lead design and photography position. After five years he had designed a wide range of products including, skate decks, packaging, and many innovative toys. He was then recruited by a Canadian-based company, WowWee toys, to design branding and packaging for them.

After about a year of designing for WowWee, he was presented with the opportunity to work for Mattel on his first love; cars. A natural move for him, he is now able to combine his passion for toys, cars, and graphic design into one job. Currently, he is on the graphics team for Hot Wheels® where he has already worked on RLC, Elite 64, Mattel Creations, NFTs, 5-Packs, multipacks, mystery models, special projects, Pull-Back Speeders, Super Rigs, Track Fleet, Character Cars and mainline cars.

His first graphic design was the Preying Menace in the 2023 Mystery Models.”