Inside Jim Henson's Creature Shop: Where Sesame Street Characters Come to Life

A Peek Inside Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Where Whimsical Puppets Are Designed

For the first time in 63 years, the public can tour Jim Henson's Creature Shop in Queens, where Sesame Street characters and other whimsical puppets are built. I explored the historic workshop, watching Jennifer Barnhart demonstrate puppetry techniques with Tillie and Bob, and saw how materials like deflated basketballs become iconic mouths. The tour reveals the magic behind Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal, showcasing a space filled with creative scraps and legendary history.

"Henson's puppets had the zany humor of the counterculture. They were not tied to all of the marionettes and the more wooden, traditional puppets that somebody who studied puppetry would have grown up with. Instead, they were made for television."