Maori's Story

I was born and raised in a very small town in New England. Only a few people lived on our road, and our house was at the edge of town, deep in the woods. Most of the neighbors were my aunts and uncles. I, therefore, spent much of my time playing in the woods. I loved all the critters that I would find! I spent hours catching and releasing, and later, sketching small creatures. When I was ten, my cousin and I caught a stray rabbit.* I would spend hours reading in the shed and hanging out with my rabbit. We always had several cats. There is magic in spending time with animals, and this magic is akin to a creativity of soul that has inspired me greatly in creating the animal companion dolls.

Before my brother was born and grew old enough to play with, and before I was old enough to spend unsupervised time in the woods, I had a doll named Popo the clown. It was a lovingly made handmade gift with long arms and legs and reversible clothing. I would spend hours dressing and undressing it! Its reversible clothing was endlessly fascinating and a huge inspiration on my dolls today.

Years later, when my own daughters were toddlers, we visited a toy store with a huge wall of dolls. My daughters, who were barely two at the time, toddled over to that wall and pulled down the only two Black dolls on it. Luckily, the dolls were on a shelf they could reach! Until that moment, I had never paid attention to the lack of diversity among dolls in stores. It was then I decided to make Black dolls to help balance the gap I now saw.

Sewing was a skill passed down to me by my mother, a former seamstress, and while I always enjoyed sewing, it wasn't until later that I realized how much I love it. My background in traditional animation and early childhood education has been instrumental in shaping my dolls' creative journey. You can see how I have combined all of my life's inspirations into these dolls. I even make the time to animate some of the doll-making process. There is magic to be found just about everywhere!