Lindsey Lee, Ryu Asada
Background
Lindsey Lee — Lindsey Eun-ji Lee is a Korean designer who worked at Mattel from 2016 to 2022 and was Hot Wheels' first full-time female designer. It was her first job after graduating from the Art Center College of Design (2015); before that, she interned at Nissan Headquarter Studios in Tokyo. At Mattel, she designed mainly for mainline, Premium and Extensions, and was in charge of designing retools of existing castings. She then returned to South Korea and works in fashion, as design lead at the New Era Cap Company.
Ryu Asada — Ryu Asada was born in Osaka, Japan, and studied physics at the University of Oregon and then automotive design at the Art Center College of Design in California, with a short internship at a Peugeot studio in France. He joined Mattel in 2004, first at Matchbox (about eight years, more than 200 models) and in 2012 moved to Hot Wheels.
He brought the brand many Japanese and enthusiast cars, such as the Honda S2000, Civic Type R, Integra and NSX, Subaru Impreza, Toyota FJ40, Nissan R390 GT1 and Mazda FC RX-7. He died in March 2021, at the age of 42.
