If you drive along Dupont St. near Symington Avenue, you may see something dancing in a shop window. This would be the ever-changing and ever-charming window display of Open Door Designs, a puppet specialty shop owned and operated by Joanne Bigham.
Step inside the small store and you’ll notice every type of puppet imaginable, from plush animals and traditional wooden marionettes to Muppet-like creatures and simple hand puppets. Keep looking and you’ll notice Open Door Designs’ custom doorway-hanging puppet theatres. And further back, beyond the creatures and characters, there’s a narrow but full workshop space where Joanne works on puppet restorations and repairs.
Joanne does most of the Open Door Designs’ work herself, with the exception of hiring outside puppet makers and hiring occasional part-time staff, particularly over the Christmas season. Open Door Designs is more than a shop — it’s a centre for puppetry and puppet-lovers in Toronto.