Donald George Sahlin (June 19, 1928 – February 19, 1978) was a Muppet designer and builder who worked for Jim Henson from 1962 to 1977. Muppets creator Jim Henson described Sahlin as “the man most responsible for the look of the Muppets.

” Sahlin began making puppets at age 11, initially building a shadow theater and cardboard figurines. As an adult he built several puppets for Kukla, Fran and Ollie and created special effects sequences for films such as G.I.