Senior Creative Leader
Toy Design + Product Design + Play Experiences
Concept-to-market creative leadership across toys, playsets, ride-ons, role-play products and large-scale play environments — turning cultural insight and storytelling into products that sell, and worlds kids remember.
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I lead full concept-to-market design: ideation sketches, foam-core and scale prototypes, executive presentations, and production-ready hardlines — balancing imagination, function, brand language and commercial impact across an entire toy portfolio, not just one product line.
7 Generations, One Icon
Across seven generations, I led the design of the Barbie Dreamhouse from concept sketch to finished, shippable product — evolving it from a simple dollhouse into a multi-story play environment with its own architectural language, engineering, and storytelling systems.
It's the work I'm proudest of — and the reason design inspired by the Dreamhouse showed up on movie screens as well as toy shelves.
Explore the Dreamhouse StoryPortfolio
A career-spanning body of work across play environments, adventure vehicles, and role-play worlds — sketch-to-shelf toy and product design for one of the world's most recognized brands.
2023–2026
Signature ProjectThe latest evolution of the Barbie Dreamhouse: three stories of immersive play, the biggest slide experience yet, 360° open architecture, a full pool, elevator/accessibility features, pet play, and endless storytelling moments in a single home.
2020–2023
An expanded Dreamhouse language built around soundscapes, songs, and light settings, plus party play, a movable pool and slide, a working elevator, inclusive accessibility features, and multi-room storytelling.
2017–2020
A modern architectural direction for the Dreamhouse: open layouts, large-scale slide and pool play, elevator development, physical foam-core exploration, and refined indoor-outdoor living environments.
Foldable Townhouse
A compact house that opens for generous play and closes for storage — six rooms, sleepover storytelling, shower-to-vanity play, a living-room-to-theater moment, and 25+ accessories.
Compact Architecture
Fold-out townhouse concepts focused on storage, expandable play, central elevator systems, rooftop and terrace play, and an open layout that unfolds into a full multi-room world.
Ultimate Travel Play
The ultimate flying experience: realistic airplane sounds, a working microphone/radio so kids can voice pretend pilot and flight-attendant commands, fully reclining seats from sitting to sleeping, TVs, food service, a kitchen galley, luggage, and puppy-travel storytelling.
Water + Vacation Play
Large-scale boat play featuring a removable top deck, outdoor seating, bathroom/shower, convertible sleeping space, a slide, a pull-out pool, and room for multiple dolls.
Adventure Vehicle Play
An entertainment-inspired beach adventure vehicle with room for dolls, beach accessories, roof storage, a folding chair, a cooler, and trendy pickleball play pieces for day-at-the-beach storytelling.
Water + Resort Play
Multi-area resort-style water play with a dramatic slide, real bubbles for the jacuzzi, a trampoline, a food counter, rotating drinks, an outdoor shower, lounge moments, and layered storytelling areas.
Compact Travel Play
Fun, basic house play designed for easy portability — a compact one-story home kids can take on vacations, to grandparents, and on everyday travel, while still offering kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and fold-out storytelling.
Travel + Adventure
Modern vehicle and camper experiences for camping, traveling, and heading to the beach or mountains — from rolling campers that transform into campsites to electric vehicles and adventure concepts built for destination-based stories.
Fashion & Style Play
A portable fashion studio that folds up like a book: an innovative Spin & Style dressing room lets kids place Barbie in the tube and spin to swap looks, while a full vanity with mirror, ring light, ottoman and makeup accessories rounds out the styling experience. Real doors and drawers open and close for storage, with a hanging rack, shoe shelf and jewelry nook keeping 20+ pieces organized — all folding down into one closet with a carry handle for on-the-go play.
Role-Play Worlds
A broad collection of fantasy, pet care, bakery, restaurant, spa, laundry, compact worlds, small doll playsets, and other toy concepts — showing sketch-to-product thinking, accessory design, role-play detail, transformation mechanisms, portability, and storytelling.
Modular Care & Friendship System
Mix, make, and care for a pet friend: kids insert modular scent and vitality pods, blend color and mood at an internal tuner, and choose a personality token and companion form to bring a pet to life. Interconnected stations link together to unlock combined emotional states — moving a companion from calm to playful, quiet to excited, or sick to healthy — with matching food and dessert outputs, a companion figure stack for collecting friends, and a full set of emotional and friendship tokens that tie directly to state and form.
Emotionally Responsive Companion
A 6" plush companion built around one idea: a little friend with feelings that a child learns to read and care for. Expressive eyes, moving ears, and paw gestures pair with a color-changing heart that signals mood and need — from lonely to loved, hungry to happy, sleepy to sparkling. Five stations (Sleep, Music, Care, Food, Friend) give kids a physical way to respond, and a "What's Wrong?" mystery station turns observation and empathy into the core play pattern: observe, understand, choose, care, reward, bond — no screen, no phone, no talking AI required.
Miniature Culinary Creator
A modular miniature-food system where kids twist and insert scent, color, and flavor pieces at the top of the maker, watch them combine internally, and dispense a finished miniature creation — from a rainbow tiered cake to countless other combinations — from the creation port below. A built-in storage rack and piece holder keep every flavor piece organized and ready to mix again.
Beauty & Accessory Design
A portable, all-in-one manicure case designed for kids: a fold-out mirror, twin polish holders, a flower-shaped glitter tray, a dedicated drying area with its own hinged door, a nail file, toe separators, and a hand-held buffer/dryer tool. A padded hand-rest built into the case edge gives girls extra support while doing their nails, and the finished exterior carries a quilted, jewel-box treatment with a fold-up carry handle.
Portable Storage Concept
A rolling, tube-shaped wardrobe concept: an internal rod for hanging clothes, punched vent holes, and a stabilizing center pole that opens and closes the storage area. Designed to flex across materials — polyethylene ribbed or honeycomb panel for an easy-clean, moisture-resistant, lightweight build, or a greener version in recyclable cardboard or scored heavy paper. The tube itself can be produced in aluminum or PVC, and finished in any color, print, graphic treatment, or die-cut window pattern.
Furniture Design
An early independent furniture project: a sculptural, caterpillar-shaped upholstered lounge seat designed to be read and used from any angle — as a chair, a chaise, or a low lounger. "Oruga" (Spanish for caterpillar) reflects the organic, continuous form Esther has carried into product design throughout her career, and was featured in a magazine profile of her work as an industrial designer.
Wellness Product Design
A reusable heat and cold therapy pack designed as a covetable, everyday wellness object rather than a clinical one — a soft, rounded silhouette in a saturated three-color palette, with a reusable gel core and click-disc activator visible through the translucent shell.
How I Work
Every project — house, vehicle, or playset — moves through the same disciplined, imaginative process, from trend forecasting to a model on the factory floor.
Reading cultural, generational and consumer-behavior shifts to find the next idea worth building.
Concept sketches and design renderings that turn an insight into a playable, buildable idea.
Foam-core builds and executive-level scale prototypes, directing model makers and sculptors.
Partnering with engineering and global manufacturing to protect design intent through to shelf.
Resume
A detailed look at 20+ years of toy and product design leadership — roles, recognition, patents, and process.
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Esther Levine · Senior Creative Toy & Product Design Leader