Richard Steiff was a German designer, known for creating one of the first teddy bears. In 1897, he joined Steiff, a stuffed toy company founded in his hometown Giengen by his aunt Margarete Steiff, and became integral to its growth as a global toy company.
Replica of Steiff Bär 55 PB, Steiff-Museum Giengen
A Teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy bear, named after President Theodore Roosevelt, became a popular children's toy and has been celebrated in story, song, and film.
Bear thought to be made by Morris Michtom, early 1900s; donated to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History by Theodore Roosevelt's grandson, Kermit Roosevelt Jr., in 1964
A replica Steiff model 55PB displayed at the Steiff-Museum, Giengen, Germany, 2006; no original examples of the 55PB are known to survive
A 1902 political cartoon in The Washington Post spawned the teddy bear name.
2: Sewing and turning