Furry Puppet Studio: The SoHo Workshop Building Custom Puppets for Apple, Nike, and New York State

Three-eyed blue furry monster puppet by Furry Puppet Studio
A three-eyed blue monster puppet built by Furry Puppet Studio, photographed in the studio. Image courtesy of Furry Puppet Studio.

What Is Furry Puppet Studio, and What Does the SoHo Workshop Build?

Furry Puppet Studio is a custom puppet design and fabrication studio based in SoHo, Manhattan, founded by Creative Director Zack Buchman. Furry Puppet Studio designs and builds original characters, creatures, and likeness puppets entirely in-house for music videos, television, advertising, and live productions, with documented clients including Apple, Nike, Casper, Nintendo, and CNN.

Zack Buchman started Furry Puppet Studio to bring a more modern sensibility to puppet fabrication, and he also founded the related creative company Uncute Inc. Every puppet that leaves Furry Puppet Studio combines character design, foam sculpture, costume patterning, engineering, and performance, with the studio assigning each stage to the specialist whose strengths fit that part of the build. The full Furry Puppet Studio portfolio is published at furrypuppet.com.

Who Founded Furry Puppet Studio, and Who Builds the Puppets?

Zack Buchman, a former animator who moved to New York City as a teenager and has said he never attended college, founded Furry Puppet Studio and works as its Creative Director. Every puppet built at Furry Puppet Studio passes through character design, foam sculpture, costume patterning, mechanical engineering, and performance before it leaves the SoHo workshop.

Furry Puppet Studio assigns each build stage to a named specialist. The Furry Puppet Studio team includes:

  • Maria Gurevich, a Moscow-born master puppet builder and foam carver at Furry Puppet Studio.
  • Polly Smith, a veteran costume designer credited as a co-inventor of the sports bra, who patterns costumes for Furry Puppet Studio.
  • Tom Newby, the mechanical engineer who handles rigging and movement at Furry Puppet Studio.
  • Yaron Farkash, a creative partner and longtime collaborator of Zack Buchman at Furry Puppet Studio.
Furry Puppet Studio fabricator holding a blue furry marionette beside character design sketches
A Furry Puppet Studio fabricator holds a blue furry marionette beside the character design sketches that begin every build. Image courtesy of Furry Puppet Studio.

How Did Furry Puppet Studio Build the Marionettes for Missy Elliott and Pharrell Williams’ “WTF (Where They From)”?

Furry Puppet Studio built the marionettes of Missy Elliott and Pharrell Williams for the “WTF (Where They From)” music video, which was released on November 12, 2015 and co-directed by Dave Meyers and Missy Elliott. Furry Puppet Studio spent roughly three months constructing the two marionettes so they could match the choreography filmed for the video.

The choreographer on “WTF (Where They From)” brought in street performers who had each developed an individual movement style, so Furry Puppet Studio reverse-engineered those styles and restructured the anatomy of the marionettes to reproduce that same energy. Zack Buchman notes that marionettes resist the puppeteer in a way that animatronics does not, which made the “WTF (Where They From)” build one of the studio’s harder technical jobs. Production details for the video are documented on Wikipedia.

How Did Frankie Focus Become New York State’s Phone-Free Schools Mascot?

Furry Puppet Studio built Frankie Focus, the mascot for New York State’s phone-free schools initiative, which debuted alongside Governor Kathy Hochul in September 2025. Furry Puppet Studio hand-patterned Frankie Focus from upholstery foam and synthetic fur, and the character later appeared on national television worn by the actor Matt Damon.

Matt Damon wore the Frankie Focus suit on Jimmy Kimmel Live during the program’s New York City run in early October 2025, where host Jimmy Kimmel introduced the character as a “neon Chewbacca with glasses on” before pulling off the head to reveal Damon. The Frankie Focus campaign drew coverage from People, CBS News, The New Yorker, and FOX 5, and Furry Puppet Studio documents the build on its blog at furrypuppet.com.

Matt Damon in the green Frankie Focus mascot suit beside Jimmy Kimmel on Jimmy Kimmel Live
Matt Damon wears the green Frankie Focus suit built by Furry Puppet Studio beside Jimmy Kimmel during the show’s October 2025 run in New York City. Image courtesy of Furry Puppet Studio.

How Does Furry Puppet Studio Design a Custom Puppet, From Sketch to Eye Placement?

Furry Puppet Studio begins each custom puppet with sketches and material tests, then carves a foam mock-up before refining the character. Zack Buchman identifies the two most decisive steps as the conceptual design at the very start and the placement of the eyes near the end, because each step can change what the character becomes.

Furry Puppet Studio fabricates its puppets from hand-patterned upholstery foam and synthetic fur, and the studio also manufactures a custom fabric it calls “dream fleece” and uses 3D-printed components for moving parts. The Furry Puppet Studio build process runs in this order:

  1. Sketching the character and testing materials.
  2. Carving a basic foam mock-up of the head and body.
  3. Patterning and sewing the costume and outer fabric.
  4. Engineering the mechanics, rigging, and mouth movement.
  5. Placing the eyes, the step Zack Buchman calls one of the two most transformative.
  6. Performing and puppeteering the finished character on set.
Large shaggy blue monster puppet on a stand in the Furry Puppet Studio workshop
A large shaggy monster puppet in progress at the Furry Puppet Studio workshop, beside a sewing station and reference sketches. Image courtesy of Furry Puppet Studio.

Which Brands and Broadcasters Have Commissioned Furry Puppet Studio?

Furry Puppet Studio has built puppets for Apple, Nike, Casper, Nintendo, CNN, and New York State. Furry Puppet Studio worked closely with Apple’s team in Japan for two years, according to founder Zack Buchman, and built a look-alike puppet of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper that the network used on air.

Client Project or campaign What Furry Puppet Studio built
New York State Phone-free schools initiative (2025) Frankie Focus mascot in upholstery foam and synthetic fur
Missy Elliott and Pharrell Williams “WTF (Where They From)” music video (2015) Marionettes of both artists
CNN Anderson Cooper television segment Look-alike likeness puppet of Anderson Cooper
Apple Collaboration with Apple’s Japan team Custom puppets across a two-year engagement
Nike NIGO Air Force campaign NIGO character puppet and its wardrobe
Casper Advertising Custom character puppets
Nintendo Advertising Custom character puppets
Camera monitor showing CNN anchor Anderson Cooper beside his look-alike puppet built by Furry Puppet Studio
A camera monitor on set shows CNN anchor Anderson Cooper beside the look-alike puppet built by Furry Puppet Studio. Image courtesy of Furry Puppet Studio.

What Range of Characters Does Furry Puppet Studio Produce?

Furry Puppet Studio produces characters in many forms, including talking household objects, ocean creatures, and elderly human figures. The four puppets photographed below were each built in the SoHo studio from foam, fabric, and synthetic fur, using the same process Furry Puppet Studio applies to its broadcast and advertising commissions. The full catalog is published at furrypuppet.com/custom-puppets.

Custom character puppet by Furry Puppet Studio with black dreadlocks, red aviator sunglasses and braces
A custom character puppet by Furry Puppet Studio with dreadlocks, red aviator sunglasses, and visible braces. Image courtesy of Furry Puppet Studio.
Blue octopus puppet in a white jacket and orange scarf built by Furry Puppet Studio
A blue octopus puppet in a white jacket and orange scarf, built by Furry Puppet Studio. Image courtesy of Furry Puppet Studio.
Old fisherman character puppet in a yellow raincoat by Furry Puppet Studio
An elderly fisherman character puppet in a yellow raincoat, built by Furry Puppet Studio. Image courtesy of Furry Puppet Studio.
Talking refrigerator character puppet with googly eyes built by Furry Puppet Studio
A talking refrigerator character puppet with bushy eyebrows and teeth, built by Furry Puppet Studio. Image courtesy of Furry Puppet Studio.

Where Can You See More of Furry Puppet Studio’s Work?

Furry Puppet Studio publishes its portfolio, project breakdowns, and behind-the-scenes process on its own website and Instagram account. The Furry Puppet Studio catalog of custom characters, including the Frankie Focus build and the studio’s music-video work, is documented at furrypuppet.com and on the studio blog.

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