Polly Pocket creator Chris Wiggs dead at 74 insidethe global phenomenon that began with a simple makeup compact

Chris Wiggs, the inventor of Polly Pocket, died peacefully on June 20 at his home in France surrounded by love and family, The Post can exclusively reveal.He was 74.Wiggs had been recently diagnosed with a rare form of neurological cancer.The East London native dreamed up the portable dreamhouse in 1983, while in New York on business.

The idea for the intricate mini world — home to a tiny doll figurine — sat in the back of his mind until he returned home, where he headed straight to his basement workshop to bring the concept to life for his beloved daughter, Kate, using a repurposed makeup compact.“I’m trying to remember the first moment he handed over the compact and I think it would have just been very ordinary.‘Oh, I made this.

Here you go,'” said Kate.“Because he was always making stuff, it was the most natural thing in the world.” It wasn’t until 1989 that the self-enclosed playscape hit the market, after Kate had grown up and tucked Polly away in her toy chest for good.

Wiggs rediscovered the compact and asked himself if it could be something more than a fond memory.That simple question set what would become known as Polly Pocket — and one of Mattel’s most profitable properties — in motion.While the diminutive diva may have been second banana to Barbie in Mattel’s mind, by 1994, sales had reached $180 million worldwide.In line with demand, the number of individual compact designs increased from 17 in 1989 to 26 by 1994.Before the toy’s relaunch in 2018, Mattel cited that more than 10 million compacts had been sold throughout Polly’s years on store shelves, which doesn’t include the many iterations the brand experienced in its nearly three decades.But Wiggs never allowed success to affect him or his children, even going so far as to dodge reporters to maintain his obscurity.

It wasn’t until much later in life that he realized the impact he had on the world and, more importantly, countless young minds.“The first time I sa...