'Tis the Season!

'Tis the season to be jolly or, at the very least, to try to. And nothing beats a brisk walk to your nearest downtown to take in the window displays that so easily provide a dose of escapism from life's travails. The holiday season in our capitalist world is certainly manipulative of our hearts and pocketbooks, but all cynicism aside, a beautiful window can surely take us into realms of fantasy that need not end in a purchase. Looking at the colors, the composition, the ideas, and the viewer is transported. As children, nothing was more enchanting for many of us at Dolldom. 

With such a memory as our guide, this year's holiday entry pays tribute to the window displays that have and continue to provide delight and a respite from reality's challenges. When preparing for photography, our editors selected dolls in the 1:6th scale and proceeded to design two festive sets for the dolls to show off the respective styles of their makers and, in the case of vintage dolls, time periods. From Licca-chan to Momoko, this year's holiday celebration is, first and foremost, meant to provide you, dear readers, with a message of hope and peace. When the going gets tough, dollectors can count on their dolls to provide a little solace, a little time for escape, and a more than a little joy. 

May your holidays bring you serene delights, even if fugacious. Carpe diem!

Window fabulous #1 - Joey Versaw's Doll Universe

Miss Mary, brother Miles, Hildy, Tallulah, Irma, Meadow, Lace, and of course, beloved Maxi the poodle!

Window fabulous #2 - The Dolls of Nad Sikand!

Anouk and Fanfan! 

Window Fabulous #3 - JAMIEshow Muses

In a dress by A&D Doll Atelier, Astrid is the definition of festive. 

Aiden agrees. 

Window Fabulous #4 Vintage Barbie

Barbie, Ken, Julia, and Midge exemplify the high standards of design and manufacture of the Japanese workforce and of a Mattel long gone. 

Window Fabulous #5 - Julian Kalinowski's Doll Universe. 

Lilli Lalka, versions 1 and 2, Séverine, Sylvain, and a prototype Sylvain all don their gayest apparel. 

Window fabulous #6 - Barbie Fashion Model Collection

Gorgeous dolls and fashions from a period - also now extinct - when Mattel stood for quality. 

Window fabulous #7 - The Dolls of Petworks

Momoko, Eight, and Nine, all fabulously tanned, exemplify fashion doll fun, Japanese style! Momoko wears a gown by Kosucas and Nine dons fancy plaid slacks by Cindy Marut for Sewing by Cindy. 

Final window fabulous - Takara's Licca-chan and Her Realm of Inimitable Kawaii! 

The whole gang's here to close the show: Pichi-Pichi Licca-chan (in a heirloom dress by Cindy Marut), Rie-chan, Wataru-kun, Izumi-chan, Goro-chan, and Kurumi-chan!

May you find peace this holiday season!

A Monumental Event

As mechanically oblivious (and sometimes guilt-inducing) gorging on social media venues consumes our lives, it is refreshing – to say the least- to find out that a book about dolls is being published. A book? Yes. About dolls? Yep. Some of us recognize the feeling; it’s like traveling back to the turn of the 21th century when publications on dolls were thriving, and sitting with a cocktail (or coffee) in hand pouring over photos and reading printed thoughts was a thing people did with their brains. A book! Think about that. Today, a book on dolls is an utterly rare occurrence. That this book documents the work of Julian S. Kalinowski, one of Dolldom’s most respected colleagues, makes the event even more monumental.

Reason by which Dolldom could not be more excited to share the news and the information as to how to get lucky and acquire what is, concurrently, a de facto anachronism and a celebration of unique doll making.

Dieter Warnecke’s book The Work and Art of Julian Kalinowski chronicles a pursuit of expression as to what a doll’s potential can be. No longer an object exclusive to beauty, the Kalinowski doll is a character and, like we wrote in a previous entry celebrating the tenth anniversary of the seminal Séverine, the essential vibe of a JSK creation is that of someone who identifies as female and carries a little (or perhaps a lot of) emotional baggage, a feeling that is invariably transmitted through the dolls' eyes.

The author, Dieter Warnecke, is a freelance journalist and writer with an impressive list of publications (18 to date) documenting the manufacture of toys: from imported wind-up tin creatures to tin toy utility vehicles by Technofix to Bild Lilli and the Barbie doll. Warnecke also conducted extensive interviews of Rolf Hausser the inventor of Bild Lilli.  It seems more than fitting that Warnecke, who has known Kalinowski for more the 35 years, would seize the opportunity to profile one of the leading independent doll makers of the period following the renaissance of the fashion doll started by Mel Odom’s Gene Marshall doll. The book also counts with the expert touch of Fokke Hoekman, a Berlin-based art director and graphic designer, whose love of rare fashion dolls regales this book with a crisply assertive style.

Dolldom was very honored to be invited to contribute to this publication as, after more than a decade of collaborations with Kalinowski, a substantial photographic record of his work exists. Knowing that many of our favorite images of early sketch dolls using the Lilli Lalka V.1 sculpt, Séverine, Miss Sévinyl, Solange, Sylvain's prototype, the S-Girls, Lilli Lalka 2, the current Lilli Lalka and the elusive 15-inch Ludy Laminous will find a home in this book provides us with great delight.

The Work and Art of Julian Kalinowski by Dieter Warnecke is now available for pre-order. An edition of 500 books worldwide guarantees that this hardcover tome, shock-full of glossy images, drawings, and elevated reflection on life and dolls, will become a sought after treasure. Just imagine: This book. Your favorite reading spot. Your favorite cocktail. Your favorite reading music. Best self-care that you as a dollector could provide for yourself. 

For more information, please visit The Work and Art of Julian Kalinowski