T. Oliver’s Gallery

T. Oliver Kopian

Tom Oliver Kopian or “T. Oliver Kopian” has been creating creatures of all types for as long as he can remember. “As a teenager, at Halloween he would turn his parents’ suburban New York home into what NEWSDAY dubbed “The House That Ate The Suburbs”.(October 31,1985) The notoriety ultimately lead to an appearance in the front window of FAO Schwarz in Manhattan, and a career developing toys and gifts for sale around the world.

Patenting the “Rubber Plush”® material he created while still living in his parents’ basement, Kopian went on to develop toys for people as diverse as Universal Studios and Walt Disney World, the Washington National Cathedral and the Salvador Dali Museum. Kopian developed his own line “Creatures of Delight”, which has been extensively licensed, and was developed into an international cartoon and licensing program in the mid 90’s. During this time his work could be found on such things as pajamas, lunch boxes and even in Kellog’s Rice Crispies throughout Europe. Creatures of Delight originals have been featured in trade and consumer press world wide. Kopian’s creature back-packs have even been a NY Times “Style Pick” during a stint at Patricia Field in New York City. In 1994 Kopian opened an interactive art studio in Tampa, Florida, which invited the public to take part in all things “creature”. The working studio was open to the public, and regularly hosted school groups for tours and workshops.The Florida retail store and studio have been featured on both MSNBC’s Your Business, and NBC’s The Today Show. Creatures of Delight has also been nominated for NICKELODEON “Parent’s Picks” awards in both 2008 and 2009.
In an effort to re-launch the Creatures of Delight brand nationally, Kopian and his co-owner Stewart Buffaloe have recently closed the Tampa store and relocated back to New York. The focus in the near future is on strengthening wholesale of the original works, new designs and developing a franchise program for “CREATE A CREATURE WORKSHOPS”™.