Muğla dolls take it to global stage
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Doğan News Agency
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Temmuz 09, 2009 00:00
MARMARİS - A prominent artist in the resort town of Marmaris produces hand-made dolls that have gained worldwide renown. The dolls, each of which are produced individually and carry a unique ID card, attract great interest from overseas, especially Russia, the United States and the UK.
Hand-made porcelain dolls produced by an artist in the popular resort town of Marmaris, featuring characteristics of the local traditional dress, have made their way onto shortlists of collectors from around the world.
The dolls are adorned with shoes, socks and duplicate jewels, making them a collector's favorite. Şiir Dürüst, the producer of the dolls, now gets orders on the Internet. "More than 160 dolls, each one uniquely produced, are now in 140 different collections in various countries," Dürüst said.
Dürüst started making hand-made dolls three years ago with the support of Temel Koçaklar, the Muğla governor at the time. "Doll collecting is the third most popular collection in the world after coin collections and stamp collections," Dürüst said. "Sunay Akın, Turkey’s top doll collector, has also included Muğla dolls in his collection."
Great interest
The dolls attract great interest from overseas, in particular Russia, the United Sates and the United Kingdom. Dürüst is currently working on an order from Croatia, which she received through the Internet. "I have sold 90 dolls to foreign collectors," Dürüst noted. "An additional 50 were purchased earlier by the Muğla governor’s office and they were given as presents to foreign guests to the city."
Each doll is uniquely produced and an ID card is prepared, Dürüst added, so it is possible to follow who bought them and where the dolls are now. Some customers even send thank you e-mails, she said. "All of the dolls have been photographed, registered, and a special identity card was prepared," she said. "Some of them have been given local names like Esengül, Bingül, Gönül, Ülkü and Rabia. But some haven't yet in order to allow them to carry the same name as the person to whom the dolls will be given as a present."
The producing the dolls is no easy task. Authenticating the dolls’ folkloric clothing was the main criteria while performing the project. Extensive research has been carried out from books, cultural publications, libraries, museums, similar samples and products, special collections, photographs and Internet sources. Clothing and accessories experts also sent the most appropriate samples.
Despite the fact that all Muğla dolls are hand-made products, techniques to produce the dolls were determined by the general decision of the team. They decided to produce the dolls in a way to reflect authentic and folkloric Muğla values by bringing out past cultural profiles to light, abiding with the original and elaborately hand-made. The artist decided that instead of producing the whole doll out of cloth, only the body structure would be produced using cloth while the hands and feet would be made of porcelain.
Because of this decision, the bodies and faces of the dolls can not be produced from plastic.
Research
Following careful research, 160 hand-made porcelain dolls with face and body features suitable to match young Turkish girls Ñ with different hair and eye colors Ñ were ordered with intensive persistence and request from a British firm that has experience in porcelain collection dolls.
Ornaments, decorations, clothes, embroidery, coverings, aprons and head scarves were hunted in various villages and markets all around Muğla and surrounding towns such as Aydın, Denizli, and Ödemiş.
Some were used in original sizes, while some were replaced by smaller scaled representations. Patterns were prepared for blouses, sleeves, skirts and caftans and then sample cuttings and sewing were made, followed by tailor fittings. Finally, original cutting patterns were prepared. Clothes in various colors and sorts were cut, sewn, ironed and prepared.
The dolls’ hair is combed and plaited. Head scarves, needle laces, beads, golden coins, head pieces, amulets Ñ color by color and model by model Ñ are given to the skilful hands of the village girls and women as samples, and processed, crocheted and sewed one by one.
Afterwards, all of the dolls are dressed just like a bride with aprons, covers, jewelry, laces, golden coins and ornaments attached.
The dolls are adorned with shoes, socks and duplicate jewels, making them a collector's favorite. Şiir Dürüst, the producer of the dolls, now gets orders on the Internet. "More than 160 dolls, each one uniquely produced, are now in 140 different collections in various countries," Dürüst said.
Dürüst started making hand-made dolls three years ago with the support of Temel Koçaklar, the Muğla governor at the time. "Doll collecting is the third most popular collection in the world after coin collections and stamp collections," Dürüst said. "Sunay Akın, Turkey’s top doll collector, has also included Muğla dolls in his collection."
Great interest
The dolls attract great interest from overseas, in particular Russia, the United Sates and the United Kingdom. Dürüst is currently working on an order from Croatia, which she received through the Internet. "I have sold 90 dolls to foreign collectors," Dürüst noted. "An additional 50 were purchased earlier by the Muğla governor’s office and they were given as presents to foreign guests to the city."
Each doll is uniquely produced and an ID card is prepared, Dürüst added, so it is possible to follow who bought them and where the dolls are now. Some customers even send thank you e-mails, she said. "All of the dolls have been photographed, registered, and a special identity card was prepared," she said. "Some of them have been given local names like Esengül, Bingül, Gönül, Ülkü and Rabia. But some haven't yet in order to allow them to carry the same name as the person to whom the dolls will be given as a present."
The producing the dolls is no easy task. Authenticating the dolls’ folkloric clothing was the main criteria while performing the project. Extensive research has been carried out from books, cultural publications, libraries, museums, similar samples and products, special collections, photographs and Internet sources. Clothing and accessories experts also sent the most appropriate samples.
Despite the fact that all Muğla dolls are hand-made products, techniques to produce the dolls were determined by the general decision of the team. They decided to produce the dolls in a way to reflect authentic and folkloric Muğla values by bringing out past cultural profiles to light, abiding with the original and elaborately hand-made. The artist decided that instead of producing the whole doll out of cloth, only the body structure would be produced using cloth while the hands and feet would be made of porcelain.
Because of this decision, the bodies and faces of the dolls can not be produced from plastic.
Research
Following careful research, 160 hand-made porcelain dolls with face and body features suitable to match young Turkish girls Ñ with different hair and eye colors Ñ were ordered with intensive persistence and request from a British firm that has experience in porcelain collection dolls.
Ornaments, decorations, clothes, embroidery, coverings, aprons and head scarves were hunted in various villages and markets all around Muğla and surrounding towns such as Aydın, Denizli, and Ödemiş.
Some were used in original sizes, while some were replaced by smaller scaled representations. Patterns were prepared for blouses, sleeves, skirts and caftans and then sample cuttings and sewing were made, followed by tailor fittings. Finally, original cutting patterns were prepared. Clothes in various colors and sorts were cut, sewn, ironed and prepared.
The dolls’ hair is combed and plaited. Head scarves, needle laces, beads, golden coins, head pieces, amulets Ñ color by color and model by model Ñ are given to the skilful hands of the village girls and women as samples, and processed, crocheted and sewed one by one.
Afterwards, all of the dolls are dressed just like a bride with aprons, covers, jewelry, laces, golden coins and ornaments attached.