Born and raised in Seattle, after high school, Nikki moved to California to attend college, receiving a BFA in Film Production in2002 from Chapman University. For the next 6 years she worked various office jobs in the film industry while also earning a Masters Degree in Secondary Education. In 2006 Nikki decided to shift her career to special effects make-up from there segueing into the stop motion world, beginning in 2008 with Shadow Machine on the Adult Swim hit show, Robot Chicken: Season 3. Nikki has worked as a puppet fabricator, lead fabricator and department head on numerous stop motion television shows, commercials and films, helping create iconic stop motion characters for such shows/films as Elf: Buddy's Musical Christmas, Happy Honda Days (SoCal regional commercial campaign 12 years running), Ask the Story Bots, Buddy Thunderstruck, Anomolisa and Ted Lasso to name a few. In 2022, the next adventure brought Nikki back home to Seattle to be closer to family and to hang out her own shingle as Puppets Northwest, offering a one stop shop for puppets of all kinds, SFX, 3D modeling/printing and educational outreach.

Dan D. Shafer is a graphic designer, artist, and educator living and working in Seattle. He owns Dandy Co., a graphic design studio specializing in book design, installation, and environmental design (as well as event promotion and branding). The studio's clients include Kronos Quartet, American Cancer Society, Salish Lodge, Herman Miller, and Pratt Fine Arts Center.

Shafer is also the creative director at Chin Music Press. His self-initiated social practice installations explore the nebulous territory that exists between traditional definitions of "art" and "design," and investigate how people interact with objects in their everyday lives.

Brian is a musician who has worked with Jonny Copeland, Bobby Radcliffe, Bunny Domino and others.  He was a founding member of BBQ Bob and the Spare Ribs and produced their first recording.  He came to woodworking by experimenting with a more ergonomic design for basses to alleviate periodic bouts of tendonitis.  

He learned the basics of woodworking from master carpenter Joe Guida (Guida Woodworks, Flagstaff, AZ,) during the course of building his first prototype.  Since then, he improved his skill by trial and error and getting advice from the master wood workers at IsGood WoodWorks and Ballard Woodworking.  In 2020, he started Miller Basses and produces about three uniquely designed basses each year.