visits, Richard Dickson, a tall, bespectacled man who is the company’s chief operating officer, plays the role of Willy Wonka. These displays can help a toy designer find inspiration they can also offer a “brand immersion”-a crash course in a Mattel property slated for adaptation. The building has hundreds of workspaces for artists, model-makers, and project managers, and it houses elaborate museum-style exhibitions that document the company’s history and core products.
Abrams (Hot Wheels) and Vin Diesel (Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots). Touring the facility, the Mattel Design Center, has become a rite of passage for Hollywood types who are considering transforming one of the company’s products into a movie-a list that now includes such names as J. J. In 2019, Greta Gerwig became the latest in a line of writers, directors, and producers to make a pilgrimage to a toy workshop in El Segundo, California.
