Bill Greening
American toy designer
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Background
Greening grew up in Orange, California and was given his first Barbie dolls as a child.[1] In 1988, Greening began actively collecting Barbie dolls when he was sixteen years old.[2] His collection numbers more than 500 pieces.[1]
After high school, Greening attended Fullerton Junior College as an art major, later transferring to California State University, Long Beach where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in fashion design.[1]
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Mattel career
In 1999 Greening began his career at Mattel as an assistant designer.[1] In 2006, Greening began designing for the Barbie Signature line,[3] where he was later named principal designer.[2] As principal designer, Greening was responsible for developing initial versions of Barbie dolls before toys went into production[1] as well as designing dolls based on celebrities, including Tina Turner,[4][5] Lucille Ball,[6] Stevie Nicks,[7] and Kylie Minogue.[8] Greening also designed Barbie dolls based on imagined and fantasy characters, including The Hunger Games's Katniss Everdeen,[9][10] She-Ra,[11] and Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider franchise.[12]
In 2020, Greening designed the 40th Anniversary First Black Barbie Doll in honor of Kitty Black Perkins, Greening's mentor and designer of the first black Barbie doll.[13][14][15] At the time, Mattel faced criticism that a white man was responsible for designing a black doll.[16] In response, Black Perkins publicly announced support for Greening's work on the doll, saying that “You don’t have to be Black to design Black.”[14]
In 2025, Greening and Kitty Black Perkins collaborated to design and release the 45th Anniversary Kitty Black Perkins Barbie Doll.[17]
In March 2025, Mattel announced sweeping layoffs at the company's El Segundo headquarters,[18] firing 120 workers, including Greening.[19]
Independent designer
Greening also designs one of a kind dolls for doll conventions and collectors.[20][21]
See also
- Barbie Basics, doll line created and designed by Greening
- Black Barbie: A Documentary, film about the first black Barbie doll, and where Greening appears