Donald Kinney

Custom Doll Maker

Donald Kinney of Bishonen House, aka Donn by most admirer of his work, was born in Logan West Virginia. After making many art projects and displays that won him many prizes, Donn created puppets that rewarded him with a scholarship to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where he studied industrial design and sculpting.

Donn worked on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie, where he painted costumes. He founded Space Monkey Productions where he designed, constructed and acted with his puppets for the Fox Cubhouse, a national television show.

He also worked with computer animation and created two animated shorts: Broken Records and Steve Saves the Universe. He also created a 30 minutes Christmas special: The Toys that rescued Christmas. He also illustrated a children book entitled: Seldom Seen Creatures of the Frick.

Don's love affair with the Anime aesthetic and its devoted fans led him to sculpt and mold his own ball jointed dolls and launch Bishonen House featuring a line of custom dolls in 2005.

This year he has released at IDEX his new improved doll, as his expertise has evolved with time. This is the third year that we are glad that Donn has agreed to come to Anime North and Doll North's special guest.

We are honored to have him back again this year.