Kip Rathke is a puppet, toy and graphic designer who started out gluing feathers on Big Bird for Kermit Love. He later spent several years with 3/Design Studio, working on Eureeka's Castle and the Howie Mandel film Little Monsters. Returning to the Muppets, he went on to build the original Bear head and Treelo for Bear in the Big Blue House, as well as the controversial Spa'am for Muppet Treasure Island.

Additionally, he has created graphic materials, set pieces and merchandise for the New York-based theater company, Circus Amok and a line of greeting cards for the legendary foam-haired diva, Orangeena.

He is currently Creative Director, Global Consumer Products at Sesame Workshop overseeing the design of all Sesame Street licensed toys. Among these: Palisades' Super Grover Action Figure, Fisher-Price/Mattel's historic line and the 2011 launch of Hasbro's new Sesame product. In themed entertainment, he helped develop Sesame's Forest of Fun and Safari of Fun in the Busch Gardens parks and Sesame attractions at Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Singapore's new Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase.

Credits

• The Muppets Take Manhattan: Puppeteer Extra (Droop and the Flower-Eating Monster) at Kermit and Piggy's Wedding
• The Secret Life of Toys: Puppet Designer/Builder
• Muppet Treasure Island: Puppet Designer/Builder of Spa'am and the two other wild boars on the poster
• Muppets Tonight: Puppet Designer/Builder
• The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss: Puppet Designer/Builder of the Cat in the Hat, others; also sculpted character maquettes for product licensing
• Sesame Street: Puppet Designer/Builder
• Bear in the Big Blue House: Workshop Supervisor, Puppet Designer/Builder of Treelo, Grandma Flutter and others
• Sesame Street Spaghetti Space Chase: Creative Director for Sesame Workshop.