BTB History
Late one night in 1994, Peter Underhill, an illustrator and Graphic Designer from Coventry, was designing a range of cutesy bears to be printed onto little girl's pyjamas. To clear his head after becoming "All cuted out" he drew his first ever Bad Taste Bear, "Hey kiddies! Here's the chainsaw bear!" He enjoyed drawing it so much that he started putting a list together and drawing and painting bears in "interesting" situations as a release for his twisted imagination.
In 1999, the sketches were discovered by Piranha Studios, a leading character giftware company who turned them into collectable figurines. The began with just six figurines on sale in the Gadget Shop - at this stage the bears were being hand-cast and painted by homeworkers in Newcastle upon Tyne. Within the first year the range increased to twelve, and in the months that followed, due to increasing demand, production was moved to a factory and a collectors club was launched to provide a point of contact for the growing hoards of Bad Taste Bear fanatics!
Hundreds of collectables and tens of thousands of collectors later and here we are, together, involved in something that we never thought would be such a phenomenon.
In 2008 Odd Co bought Piranha Studios and are proud to have taken the Bad Taste Bears into their 10th Anniversary year. We hope that you join us in celebrating this landmark occasion by attending one of our signings or events taking place throughout 2009 and we look forward to the next 10 years of bad taste!
BTB Timeline
March 1994 - Pete draws the first ever Bad Taste Bear - Nick
January 1999 - Piranha Studios discover Pete's sketches
September 1999 - The first six bears go onsale in the UK.
June 2000 - The official Collectors Club is launched
September 2000 - Nobby, the first personalised bear is released
June 2001 - Bernie Necklace becomes the first manufactured variation
December 2001 - Xmas Willy is released for just £11.66
February 2002 - Henry is banned due to copyright issues
September 2002 - Bear of the Month launches with Jack
November 2002 - The first signing takes place at Arcana, Arcana in Walsall
November 2002 - Singeon features as the first limited edition print
January 2003 - A one off prototype of "naked Vic" is auctioned for £1650
February 2003 - Bob becomes the first limited edition, with 2000 worldwide
February 2003 - The 50th bear, Dark Vibe, is released
February 2003 - Johnny is launched - the first bear to be designed by a collector
March 2003 - The Bears Nuts Fan website is set up
October 2003 - Pink Randy becomes the first chrome bear
November 2003 - A manufacturing error produces Fawkes
December 2003 - Ariel is banned due to copyright issues
February 2004 - AC/DC no bow variation is made in error
June 2004 - Greek Ali variation exclusive for Greece
July 2004 - The first ever summer event is held at Greystoke Castle, Cumbria
July 2004 - Lance becomes the first event bear
August 2004 - Tom is released with a charity donation fmade from every sale
October 2004 - The first overseas signing takes place on Barcelona
November 2004 - Amador is made as a Spanish exclusive
November 2004 - A token collection scheme is launched for a free exclusive bear, Humphrey
December 2004 - The 100th bear is released - Xmas Fairy
March 2005 - Christian caused controversy and outrage for the Catholic Church
August 2005 - Dennis - A Treasure Hunt Adventure book is launched
September 2005 - Orange Spike variation is made as Australian exclusive
September 2005 - The King goes onsale as the first Buy Back bear
December 2005 - The Poison Apple token promotion launches with Snow White as the free bear
February 2006 - Bears temporarily get smaller!
February 2006 - The iconic Mr Bear is born
June 2006 - Collectors vote for Ernie as the Membership Bear
August 2006 - The first three-piece Collectors Box Set is released with Clark
August 2006 - The Golden Shower promotion starts
September 2006 - Oscar is launched as the loyalty bear
October 2006 - Clark is withdrawn due to copyright issues
November 2006 - Dennis - A Treasure Hunt Adventure ends as Dennis is found!
November 2006 - The first evening mini-event takes place in Blackpool
November 2006 - Marilyn is immortalised as the first ever 16" statue
December 2006 - The BTB year book is launched
April 2007 - Jason becomes the first glow in the dark bear
June 2007 - Jools is released and only available online by auction
August 2007 - Brad launches the new two-piece Collectors Edition Sets
December 2007 - Noel is the 200th bear to be released
January 2008 - The Nursery Crimes promotion is launched, with 3 free bears to collect
April 2008 - Piranha Studios is bought by The BT Bears Ltd
July 2008 - Christmas bear prototype is auctioned for £860
November 2008 - Bride and Groom are the first Twin set pieces
March 2009 - One-off Giant Kongo statue auction reaches £1750
May 2009 - The BT Bears changes name to Odd Co Ltd
May 2009 - First signing of the 10th Anniversary year takes place in Dundee
May 2009 - Commemorative 10th Anniversary Plate is launched