#InFocus: Kit Rex Cardboard Velociraptor Creations
ALLENTOWN, PA (WTXF) - It started as a college project.
24-year-old Lisa Glover built a 15 foot long cardboard Velociraptor for a prototyping class at Lehigh University.
Lisa Glover, founder of Kit Rex said, "I think most people at Lehigh University know about my dinosaur or have seen it walking around on campus."
She debuted her dinosaur at a costume party on campus.
"Everyone is in their costume dancing and suddenly it all just stops," Glover said.
"I consider myself to be a shyer person. I didn't see it being a literal show stopper."
Lisa took first place in the party's costume contest and realized--people love dinosaurs.
The dinosaur even made it onto the White House lawn.
"I knew kids loved it and so did college students but at one point there were these people in these fancy business suits walking around campus and they had to stop and take pictures of it and they thought it was super cool," Glover said.
The popularity didn't stop at Lehigh's campus. Her friends convinced her to start her own business selling dinosaurs.
"Making giant costumes that is crazy. Let me start with something a little bit easier," Glover said.
She turned her dinosaurs into several flat packed paperboard toys called Kit-Rex.
It's a three dimensional puzzle of sorts.
Putting piece after piece together until you get a well-constructed paperboard dinosaur.
"I have a lot more tricks up my sleeves than paper dinosaurs that is for sure. I see this as just the beginning," Glover said.
But to begin any business you first have to have funds. So Lisa took to Kickstarter.
She produced a video hoping to raise 8000 dollars. The money would go towards a machine to imprint each pattern onto the paper called a die.
"It was on the front page of kick starter. It blew up from there," Glover said.
She raised over $110,000.
"It absolutely blew my mind. I couldn't believe it," she said.
"It is something that people can connect with and spend a few hours having some family bonding time.
"It is also something you can decorate and have fun with."
Like a stop motion video someone sent her online.
"It is not just something that will sit up on the shelf," Glover said.
"It delights kids and old people and everything in between. People who you would think were super serious and wouldn't smile or be interested in a googly eyed Dino…It does something special it impacts them in a really cool way. It reminds them to be take things a little bit light and to smile more."
Click here to be directed to the Kit-Rex website. Also, the dinosaurs can be purchased at the Spectrum Scientifics, Lolli Lolli, Momo's Treehouse, The Growing Tree and at Learning Express in Havertown.