Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Chappell.
Hi Chris , so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I never planned to get into puppetry. I always wanted to be a musician, and I was for a number of years. I just started feeling burnt out from playing cover gigs. It wasn’t really what I wanted to do, and it was hard to get a band together. So, I took a break. During that time, I decided I wanted to start a YouTube channel, but I didn’t want to be on camera because I’m a little shy and introverted. That’s when puppets came to mind. I started shopping around for a custom newsman puppet and it was out of my budget. So, I thought I would give building my own puppet a shot and that’s how it started. In 2015 I won a commercial contest held by FOX50 and Heister Chevrolet. My commercial featuring some of my puppets won the individual prize of $5,000. I was invited back to puppeteer for two more commercials featuring a puppet of John Heister aka Little John. I had my first website built not long after and started building custom puppets for other people. I made my first puppet short film in 2019, and it won several awards, one all the way from Japan. I’ve been building puppets for over 12 years now. Last year I was commissioned to build look alike puppets by Cheech and Chong’s team. They use the puppets on their Instagram. I would say they have been my biggest clients so far.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a struggle over the years. in 2019 I was diagnosed with chronic Lyme disease. The fatigue I was experiencing really affected my work during that time, I took a break to focus on my health, just a year after that I went through a divorce and lost the house and the garage where I filmed my short film. It’s been a rough road personally as well and professionally. The business definitely has its highs and lows. Busy times and dead times. It’s the dead times that are hard. I would love to see more creative agencies in the area incorporate puppetry into advertising and other projects. Being in North Carolina verses say California or New York has also made it more challenging to land puppeteering work, which I enjoy immensely. Puppetry has taken me a lot of places I probably never would have seen so that’s a huge plus.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I build custom puppets and puppeteer. I specialize in Muppet style puppets. These are puppets built out of foam and fleece or fur. I’m most proud of the characters I’ve developed over the years. I take a lot of pride in my work. It’s unique, I don’t know of anyone else in the area that does what I do. I’ve learned from some of the best, including Muppet performers.
What’s next?
I would love to work on a follow up to my first short film. I’ve been growing my TikTok channel, but I plan to change up the format this year to focus more on puppetry in general. I had a new website built in 2025 so that was a big change. I really love how it shows off some of my best projects.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.chappellpuppets.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chappellpuppets/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-chappell-78bb63113
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@chappellpuppets
- Other: chappellpuppets3 on tiktok
