Khipra Nichols has had a long and storied career as a toy designer. At Hasbro, he worked on blockbuster products like My Little Pony, Mr. Potato Head, and more. Today, he teaches industrial design at Rhode Island School of Design.
In December of 2022, we sat down with Khipra Nichols to learn more about how he brought these iconic toys to life.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Isabella Jibilian:
What was it like working on Mr. Potato Head?
Khipra Nichols:
So before the character we worked on, [the 1960s version of] Mr. And Mrs. Potato Head were very plain. And so we had the job of bringing freshness and life and animation into the character.
It was my idea to have a little hatch [in the back]. It was inspired by the Dr. Denton onesies that toddlers wear that have a little flap in the back for when they’re learning how to potty train.
IJ:
How was it, working on My Little Pony?
KN:
One of the fun things about doing a play set for My Little Pony is that you get to design all the little accessories within the play set, and you start to visualize how a child is gonna play with it. Like what kind of things can you create that will trigger imagination and storytelling for the child?
In the play set that I did prior to the (My Little Pony Dream) Castle, I created a little kitten that was a friend to the pony. And this time I wanted to have an unusual friend, not necessarily a kitten or a puppy. I came up with the idea of having a baby dragon.
And so Spike became the baby dragon friend of Majesty, who is the pony from the My Little Pony Dream Castle.
For me to design Spike was a little bit of a treat because I was not known for doing cute characters. I was the one who could make things very functional and yet keep the style fresh and new and sweet for the child. So I had a lot of fun with Spike.
IJ:
Why are toys important?
KN:
Toys are important because this is how children start to understand the world that they’re in.
Imagine a toddler sitting in a wading pool and you give them a wooden block. They splash it in the water and it floats to the top. And they get very excited about that. And then when you hand them something that doesn’t float, they put it in the water right away and it doesn’t come up to the top.
And so what looks like play, and it is play, is also discovery.
For more on Khipra, watch our story on Rhode Island PBS Weekly:
