Beyond the Brand: Turning Ideas into Collectibles

In this playful and eye-opening workshop, students will explore how toys and merchandise extend brands, stories, and characters beyond their original medium. Guided by multifaceted artist Chris Le, students will paint and customize their own 3D-printed figurines designed by Chris and learn about using creativity to expand entrepreneurial paths.

Students will:

Customize and paint a 3D-printed toy figure.
Explore how characters and products translate into merchandise.
Create a finished toy that reflects their own creative vision.

Students will learn:

The basics of crossover merchandising and brand expansion.
How toys and collectibles support media, sports, and entertainment brands.
An introduction to product design and small-scale manufacturing.
How creative ideas can live across multiple platforms and formats.

This workshop blends art, design, and entrepreneurship while showing students how imagination can turn into tangible products.

Chris Le

Chris Le (C-Le) is a Salt Lake City, Utah based film director, VFX artist and graphic designer. Starting at a young age, Le has worked his way up in the music industry working on visuals with artists such as Rick Ross, Christina Milian, Ty Dolla Sign, Anderson .Paak and many others. Le eventually moved into music videos, commercials and eventually, movies. Chris Le’s first produced film, Zombie Hunter premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival. From there, Le’s clientèle and portfolio grew as he started to direct his first feature film, Juarez 2045. Le also works in the game industry creating assets for Valve software’s Dota 2 and Counter-Strike through the workshop program.

Chris Le is the creative director of RTFKT and is now listed as a senior director of design at Nike. Pre-RTFKT, Chris‘ career included gaming designs, graphic design work for music labels Def Jam and Sony, and music video directing for artists such as Ty Dolla Sign and Anderson .Paak, and directing and editing credits for two Netflix movies starring Danny Trejo.