Otto Kuhni

Otto Johnson Kuhni was a graphic artist that designed many the early art work for blisterpacks, cases and sets. Born in 1927 in Utah the fourth of five children, Kuhni began work as a freelance artist in 1962 and began work with Mattel in 1967, doing many of the drawings for card art and playsets; he even designed some large playsets himself. Kuhni retired in 1995, but returned part-time to do artwork for the then-new Hot Wheels Collectors series of cars, the accompanying Red Line Club and various other retro-themed products. Kuhni died in 2017, aged 90; his legacy lives in the form of his artwork as well as the Custom Otto, a rendition of the generic car he drew for the 1968 packaging artwork that was ultimately never released in the line and named in his honor.
==Quote from HW.com==
 
"Otto Kuhni has been a freelance designer with Mattel for over 45 years, and began working on Hot Wheels® cars in 1967. His first projects included designing art for the original blister card and many of the collector buttons, play sets and accessory packages for track, curves, jumps, loops and double loops. From 1968-1970, Kuhni also designed large play sets.
Kuhni created the artwork used on many of the Hot Wheels® collector cases, including the 12-, 24, 48- and 72-car varieties. He also designed many of the Hot Wheels® blister card and collector set illustrations through 1995.
He retired in 1995, but returned to work part-time for Mattel.and has been creating the illustrations for the HotWheelsCollectors.com cars and a new 12-car collector case."
== 1/64 Scale ==
Year	Casting Name	Debut Series	First Edition #	Toy Number	Photo
2008	Custom Otto 	Toy Fair 	- 	M4681 	
==See also==
*:Category:Otto Kuhni Designs
Category:Designers
Category:Casting Designers
Category:Package Designers
Category:Playset Designers