Brian Donnelly was born Jersey City, New Jersey 1974, known professionally as KAWS.

He began as a graffiti artist, moving on to and other media; sculptures, acrylic paintings on canvas and screen prints. He also collaborates commercially, predominantly on limited edition toys, and also clothing, skate decks. Some of his characters are his own creation whilst others are reworked versions of existing icons.

In 1999 Kaws began to design and produce his first vinyl toy with the Japanese clothing brand Bounty Hunter.He and Medicom Toy ran OriginalFake, a brand, and store in Aoyama, Tokyo that opened in 2006 to sell toys and later closed in May 2013.

His work is exhibited in galleries and museums and held in the permanent collections of public institutions.

He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.