One rainy afternoon...
...in January of 2010, Benn and Oz decided to get crafty. Benn thought, "I would like to make a stuffed animal, like a teddy bear or something." Inspired by a recent trip to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC, the project began to morph into something a bit strange.
"I want to put a zipper in it, so it opens. No, I want to make a zipper that goes all the way around so that it completely unzips apart into 2 halves!" Benn declared with excitement and then began to research plush patterns and devise a plan. Oz got her sewing machine out and found some fleece and a spare zipper. Benn created and cut out a patten. He was already quite familiar with the sewing machine, so Oz just taught him how to add a zipper. Before the day was done, they had a weird little un-stuffed animal sack.
"So what are you going to put inside of it?" Oz asked.
"Organs! What else?" Benn replied.
So the following day Benn and Oz worked on sewing a little heart, liver, lungs, brain with spinal cord, stomach and intestines. Each organ was specifically designed to fit inside that little empty body and carefully sewn by hand. After all those organs were inside it still had some empty space, so they made a squeedlyspooch (shout out to Invader Zim!) as one last organ. Two button eyes and he was done! Horrifying and adorable all in one.
"What should we name him?" Benn pondered.
"Zippy!" Oz squealed with delight. "I love Zippy so much! I want to make more, he needs friends!"
And that was the beginning of Zippy Friends.