Robert Hurlburt

Title:
Hallmark Production Designer

Started at Hallmark:
November 1978

Started at Keepsakes:
November 2004

Hometown:
Holden, Missouri

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Over thirty years ago, Robert Hurlburt began his Hallmark career as an engraver. Even as he pursued accuracy in his work, Robert’s move to the Keepsake Studio in 2004 offered an opportunity to tell stories in meaningful, magical new ways. Now he enjoys crafting Keepsake Ornaments inspired by both real-world and magical sources, all in precise detail.

Get it right is Robert Hurlburt’s mantra. Even as a child, Robert took a scientific approach to his art. No purple suns in his boyhood pictures. He enjoyed sketching celebrities from photographs. “I wanted to see how close I could get,” he says. With that kind of mindset and determination, it’s no surprise that when he was hired at Hallmark more than 30 years ago, Robert excelled in the detail-focused engraving department.

In late 2004, he brought his talents to the Keepsake department, which he calls “a whole new game.” Just a month into his job, Robert was asked to design. His first ornament, a Star Wars™ piece, was available in 2006.

As the Keepsake Artists continue to collaborate, Robert is challenged with finding ways to keep the creative process simple and the sculpture detailed. Robert is hooked on working with three-dimensional product, and his scientific mind continues to question how to take his artwork further. The daily one-hour commute to Hallmark gives him plenty of time to think about ornament design. When home, Robert and his wife, Lori, are constantly tinkering on projects at the farm and sharing their 40-acre homestead with horses, chickens, cats and dogs.

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