Idea Design Studio

Idea Design Studio Celebrates Women’s History Month: Ruth Handler

It is International Women’s Month, and Idea Design Studio is looking at women that have made a difference in the entrepreneurial and invention fields. Idea Design Studio is one of the fastest growing patent designs companies in the world, and they take a lot of pride in past inventors. Today, we take a look at the creator of one of perhaps the most famous toy of the 20th century, and president of the biggest toy company In the world. Idea Design Studio celebrates Ruth Handler.

Ruth Handler was born to Polish-Jewish immigrants in Denver, in 1916. Marrying her high school boyfriend, Elliot, and moved to Los Angeles at the end of the thirties. Elliot and his business partner Harold “Matt” Matson founded Mattell, Inc. Named after combining both of their names, they started out as a picture frame company. They eventually moved to dollhouse furniture and became more successful.Handler’s daughter, Barbara, was fond of playing with paper dolls and pretending they were adults. She thought that when children played with dolls, they imagined themselves in the future, not the present. Capitalizing on the limitations of paper dolls, she took inspiration from the German Bild Lilli dolls and designed the first “Barbie.” She got a patent for the new Barbie doll, much like the patent services that Idea Design Studio offers.