Continuing with the idea of doing more posts spotlighting various designers behind different dolls, I thought I'd talk about Joyce Chen.
She shares her name with a restauranteur and chef, but this particular Joyce Chen is an alumnus of Otis College of Art and Design alongside fellow Mattel designers Carlyle Nuera and Javier Maebe.
Chen has been a Senior Designer at Mattel since 2015. Her name may be familiar because she has been the designer behind the annual Lunar New Year releases since 2021.
As well as her being credited as the designer on the Kansas Chief Super Bowl Championship Barbies from last year.
In an alumni news spotlight for Otis College, she identified that she realised she had a passion for specifically doll design during a summer internship and was gunning to return to Mattel on graduation; she started with a temporary contract for a Disney Princess collection in 2014 before acquiring her long-term work with them as a designer.
Her involvement with dolls like the Lunar New Year releases and collaboration with designers like Guo Pei have given her the opportunity to draw from her cultural experience, and she is quoted in that same article as follows:
"I love seeing the continued growth of diversity and representation in dolls, and hope that one day every person in the world can find a doll they connect with."
