ABOUT SCARY Design

The year was 1992...

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I was employed by a company that manufactured "Environmental Scannning Electron Microscopes" (the "ESEM"). It was a pretty good job, as "jobs" go. We were doing some very cool things; no other commercial SEM in history could claim to take "anything", in it's natural state - didn't matter what it was, and image it. No "coating" with metal, pick it up off the floor, throw it in the "chamber" and 30 seconds later be imaging it. I worked closely with the "inventor" of the technology, as well as served as "International Field Service". I traveled around the world, installing and training people on the use of the beast. Then one day, company meeting; the VP of Engineering was "let go" and the marketing people put in charge. From this point on, the color of the thing meant more than how it operated...

I called my wife and said "I can't stay here". After talking it over, we decided it was time to cut loose and start our own business. I had been "tinkering" with various things; after working in "high tech" I decided I needed to do something "not so demanding". How about "toy design"? That shouldn't be so hard... What did I know about toy design? Nothing...

We started talking about names for the company. As we were talking we said, "I'm leaving a good job, good pay, with two babies at home, to start a toy design company?" Scary...

There it was - "SCARY Design (Studios)".

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Since that start, we've had successes; "Mattel/Fisher-Price "Bump 'n Crash" cars, DSI's "Baby Pick Me Up" and Anagram International's "Sing-A-Tune Balloons" to name a few. The projects we've done have let us work with people all over the world; we've made some great friends along the way, and been to some wonderful places. Since then, we've dropped the "Studios" but it's still SCARY...  

Mike