A visual
artist, Joanne
Bigham entered the world of puppet theatre by chance. She
spent six years on the road with children’s entertainers
Sharon, Lois and Bram as an “elephant keeper",
props person and designer and later wrangled Ella and CC Copy
Cat for Skinnamarink TV, wildly popular with the under-six
TV crowd. Open Door Designs was born when a friend asked Joanne
to make a puppet theatre that could be taken to libraries
and schools. Since then the business has continued to thrive
and grow with the introduction of several free standing portable
puppet theatres and a variety of puppets.
In 2007 Joanne opened the Open Door Designs' retail store,
located on Dupont Street in Toronto, which featured her own
designs alongside other Canadian puppet builders as well as
a comprehensive vintage collection.
In 2015
Open Door Designs moved out of Toronto and is continuing to
produce puppet theatres and puppets in the new location in
Deep River Ontario. Joanne has also opened a Sewing
Studio that provides sewing repair, alterations and small
upholstery. For more information click
there.
