We usually come across dolls with silky straight hair and bright clothes. But this miniature doll — created by Premnath Ayil and Anisha P — has curly hair and clothes that are made of eco-friendly materials. Both Premnath and Anisha are currently freelance graphic designers in Bengaluru. They have worked previously for several advertisement agencies but three years ago, the both of them quit their full-time jobs in the hopes of leading a particularly calm and peaceful lifestyle. That's when Anisha decided to work on something creative that interests her.
Anisha who studied at the College of Fine Arts in Thiruvananthapuram, says, "I have been into creating miniature dolls and toys for a long time. However, I had not taken it seriously until one day, I created this five centimetre doll with things available at home. And it turned out really well. The idea behind creating this doll was to use eco-friendly materials and make it look similar to most of us." When we ask Anisha if she wanted to break stereotypes with her curly-haired doll, she says, "There was no reason behind creating such a doll. My husband and I have curly hair and I kept that image in my mind when creating this doll. But I never thought that the outcome would be so beautiful."
This couple launched the dolls in the market a few months ago through an online platform called Curly Wurly. "We named these dolls Curly Wurly because one of our friend's daughter saw these dolls and came up with this name spontaneously. We both felt that the name goes well with the look of the dolls. So, we named our platform Curly Wurly," says Anisha who is happy that her dolls will be displayed at the Kochi Biennale to be held in the month of December. She explains, "These dolls caught the attention of Dilip Narayan, a gallerist who has already put up these dolls at OED Elements which is a high-end clothing and accessories store in Kochi. In December, he will be displaying these dolls at the Kochi Muziris Biennale. We are very excited and waiting for it."
The hair is one element of these dolls. The clothes are a whole other element. "I use cotton fabric to wrap around the doll. These clothes are also specially designed by me to match the colour of the doll's hair. Recently, for Onam, we wrapped a white cloth with a golden border on these dolls," she says. Anisha and Premnath have named each doll according to the type of clothes — the dolls that wear checkered clothes are named Checkered, the dolls with Onam clothes to are named Onakkodi, the ones with sober and plain clothes are the Originals.
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Anisha, who is quite happy with the positive response these dolls have received, says, "I source this cotton fabric from a particular shop. Similarly, the hair is made from jute material. Jute is perfect to create curly hair and they come in different colours. However, the style of weaving the hair on these dolls is different. Some of these dolls have curly hair coiled around her face or just fall on her body and some have stiff curly hair." So make sure you catch up with the duo at this year's Kochi Biennale and grab yourself a doll or two.
