Doll up your homes

The dolls in a superhero theme.

The nesting dolls fit one inside the other in an ascending order.  

Can you imagine a small version of you, made in wood? A Chandigarh-based startup, which creates quirky collectibles, makes handmade dolls that can be customised to look like you.

The startup, Colored Rims, was founded in 2018 by Shreya Gupta, Manpreet Singh and Shruti Chauhan, former batchmates of National Institute of Fashion Technology. They used to make kitchenware, tableware, handicrafts and home decor pieces earlier, recalls Manpreet.

During Covid-19, when most businesses came to a standstill, the startup began selling their products online. “It was a customer who wanted a lifelike doll made for her father. We agreed without giving it much thought. This is how our personalised dolls came into being,” he recollects.

Their popular creations are the nesting dolls (stacking dolls or nesting dolls originate from Russia). Shreya says, “The head of the family will be the biggest doll and the youngest member will be the smallest one. It can be a set of three dolls to a larger set of many more dolls, where two or three sets are combined.”

After receiving feedback from customers, they also now make single dolls. “When personalising a set of dolls for friends or colleagues these work best,” Shreya adds.

“They are handmade and handpainted by artisans and coloured with acrylic paints,” she explains.

Different looks

The startup has done corporate gifting for several companies. “There are some that come up with ideas like personalising the doll’s face and outfit as Superman or Superwoman or other superhero characters,” Shreya says. The team likes trying challenging designs. “We have created dolls in unique themes — a mascot for a home cooking brand, deities from south India, among others,” she says.

These dolls comes in six sizes (starting from 17 cm to 4.5 cm). “You can mix and match sizes according to how you want your family to be depicted. Dolls of same or varying heights can be added, according to the person being portrayed,” Shreya adds.

The making

The design process starts with the customer sending a photograph of the people whose dolls have to be made. An artist checks the photograph and its details. “The doll’s shape and customer’s requirement are looked at. Once the doll’s body is prepared by the artisan, it is sent to our artists for handpainting. It starts with the base colour inspired from outfits the people are wearing, be it a white dress or black shorts etc,” she says. Details, like a golden border in a sari, are added after this. “Black outlining, finalising of details, adding accessories, and personalising the faces follow,” she says.

If the customer has requested for a preview, he/she/they will receive a digital preview over WhatsApp, once the process is complete. “If there are anymore edits based on feedback from the customer, they are done after this. It takes around
12 to 15 days to fulfil one order,” she adds.

Challenges

Iterations in these dolls happen when trying to “achieve personalisation as closely as possible”.

“Making these dolls is challenging as every order demands the creation of a unique doll, with different features, and depict a different idea and story,” she says.