Kern Toy

Kern Toy, a San Francisco Chinatown native, began his design career at a volleyball game where he met an associate from Jonson, Pedersen, Hinrichs and Shakery who hired him as their intern.

He apprenticed for several years for the masters, Kit & Linda Hinrichs and Neil Shakery, while at the same time earning his degree at CCAC. Afterward, Kern made his way to New York to see the big city's bright lights where he worked for notable designers Tomoko Miho, Edward Walter, Peter Bradford, and HLChu.

In 1989 he returned to the Bay Area where he has worked locally for many well-known design firms, including EnterpriseIG/SBG Partners, Primo Angeli, Inc., Pentagram, and Alterpop. Kern was previously an art director at Autodesk, Inc. and an associate/senior designer at Alterpop.

He is currently restarting his own studio practice and is always on the trail of fun and exciting projects. He counts among his clients The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Society for Asian Art, Embarcadero Technologies, UCSF Family House, UC Davis, Oracle, The Sacred Well, and University Games.

Kern has been teaching at CCA since 1998 and is now an adjunct professor and program advisor. He also has taught in the First Year Program. His work has been featured in the Print Regional Design Annual, the How Design Annual, and IDN, a Japanese design journal.