Sunday 31 January 2016

Interview with DollsheCraft

Hello everybody! This one is the first interview of the year, which also makes it on the 3rd anniversary of me doing interviews!! Yes, that is right, already 3 years :3

In order to celebrate, I took my chances on December and contacted a very special company, which accepted the interview. Therefore, here is an interview with Mr. Dollshe Ki-yong, owner and main sculptor behind DollsheCraft! As always, all images were used with permission, and the interview is translated to both English and Spanish. Hope you will like this interview! It was an honor to make this! :D


Hi! Thank you so much for doing the interview!
Hi, My name is Dollshe Ki-yong the master sculptor of Dollshecraft dolls. I have been making Dollshecraft BJDs since 2003 and used a nickname Dollshe. After then I decided to use the nickname as a brand. I have been making DollsheCraft dolls by myself for the past 13 years. I have developed the know-how and production method by myself and passed them on to our Dollshe Craft family. We have segmented and specialized the production process. I am currently concentrating on making the prototype only.
¡Hola! ¡Muchas gracias por hacer la entrevista!
Hola, mi nombre es Dollshe Ki-yong, el escultor principal de Dollshecraft Dolls. He estado haciendo BJDs para Dollshecraft desde 2003 y usado el apodo Dollshe. Luego decidí usar el apodo como marca. He estado haciendo muñecos para DollsheCraft durante los últimos 13 años. He desarrollado el conocimiento y método de producción por mí mismo, y se lo he pasado a nuestra familia de DollsheCraft. Hemos segmentado y especializado el proceso de producción. Actualmente, yo sólo me concentro en hacer los prototipos.

Mr. Dollshe Ki-yong in his workspace.



Let’s start with a classic. How did you meet BJDs? Do you have artistic background?
I started making BJDs by coincidence. Since year 2001, I had been making little miniatures. Most of them needed a historical research. I made mostly Indians or Generals in army. From time to time, I made little children and characters as well. I devoted my passion in making Indians and Generals to submit for Euro Militaries exhibition. However, due to my personal financial situation, I could not participate in the exhibition.
Our family financial condition was not well enough back then so I had been taking semesters off from school as well. I was pretty much wasting my time working for part-time jobs. But I wanted to make money by taking advantage of my major. I was 21 years old back then and very desperate for money. After my dream of participation in Euro Militaries had come to total failure, I was devastated for almost a month. I had no motivation to do anything at all and just lied down in my back looking at the ceiling all day. I stopped playing basketball, which is my favorite sports and turned the phone off and did not go outside to meet my friends for a while. Some of my friends came looking for me at my house (Laugh). Then I coincidentally came across a BJD from some website. I was fascinated and felt this strange charm from the plain look on its face. I had the urge to make the doll. I uploaded the pictures of the finished doll on the website. The next day when I woke up, I had so many emails from these people I do not know. Most of the emails were order inquiries. I took orders from small group of people and made the dolls for them. I had to cast dolls from this small room every weekend and send them to the customers who ordered them. This is how Dollshe Craft is founded.
Those sculpts in the pictures are the miniatures that I made in preparation for Euro Militaries. Small ones are not even 10cm. I had posted them on my facebook a while ago as well.
I went to School of Art for both High School and College. I got accepted into Industrial Art major and majored in Visual Design. My major had played an important role in making BJDs. Those people I met back then and exchanged inspiration as well as care and love for art still help me a lot when it comes to making the dolls.
Comencemos con un clásico. ¿Cómo conociste las BJDs? ¿Tienes un trasfondo artístico?
Comencé a hacer BJDs por coincidencia. Desde el año 2001 he estado hacienda pequeñas miniaturas, y la mayoría de ellas necesitaban que investigada la historia. Hice principalmente indios y generales de ejército. Ocasionalmente, hacía pequeños niños y otros personajes. Me dediqué a hacer indios y generales para enviar a la exhibición Euro Militaries. Sin embargo, debido a mi situación económica personal, no pude participar en la exhibición.
En ese entonces, nuestra condición financiera familiar no era muy buena, así que tuve que saltear semestres de la universidad. Prácticamente desperdiciaba mi tiempo tomando trabajos de medio tiempo. Pero quería hacer dinero con el título. Tenía 21 años entonces y estaba muy desesperado por dinero.
Luego de que mi sueño de participar en Euro Militaries fue un total fracaso, estuve devastado por más de un mes. No tenía motivación para hacer nada y simplemente permanecía acostado en mi espalda, mirando el techo todo el día. Dejé de jugar basketball, que es mi deporte favorito, y apagué el teléfono sin ir a ver a mis amigos por un tiempo. Algunos vinieron a buscarme a mi casa (ríe).
Entonces, accidentalmente me crucé con una BJD de un sitio. Estaba fascinado y sentí ese extraño encanto por la mirada en su rostro. Tuve la necesidad de hacer una muñeca así. Subí las fotos de la muñeca terminada en el sitio web. Cuando desperté al día siguiente, tenía muchos emails de personas que no conocía. La mayoría eran correos preguntando cómo comprar. Tomé encargos para un pequeño grupo de personas e hice las muñecas para ellos. Tenía que castear las muñecas en esta pequeña habitación todos los fines de semanas y enviarlos a las personas que los encargaban. Así es que fundé Dollshe Craft.
Las esculturas en las fotos son las miniaturas que hice para Euro Militarias. Las pequeñas no tienen más de 10cm de alto. Las coloqué en mi Facebook hace un tiempo.
Yo fui al Colegio de Arte tanto en el instituto y la Universidad. Me aceptaron en la carrera de Arte Industrial y recibí mi título en Diseño Visual. Mi título ha tenido un rol muy importante en hacer BJDs. Aquellas personas que conocí en ese momento e intercambiaron inspiración conmigo, así como también el amor por el arte aún me ayudan mucho cuando toca hacer las muñecas.

Figure for Euro Militaries made by Mr. Dollshe Ki-yong.


Dollshe Craft has been there since 2003, and that is a lot of time! Do you have a workspace/office to share with us?
It has been a long time and I didn’t even realize until now. My studio is not as magnificent as you imagine. I made dolls for the first time from my own room and as order volume had increased I expanded the size of studio. Everything in the studio and every single corner is made by our Dollshe Craft family including the painting on the wall and lightings on the ceiling. It really makes me realize the marks of the long time that has gone by. It is not a beautiful studio but it is the coziest place to make dolls. I took the pictures for every corner of studio myself. There is a Photo shoot studio as well as exercising equipments.
Dollshe Craft existe desde 2003, ¡y eso es mucho tiempo! ¿Tienes una oficina o espacio de trabajo para compartir con nosotros?
Ha sido mucho tiempo y no me he dado cuenta hasta ahora. Mi estudio no es tan magnífico como pueden imaginar. Hice muñecas por primera vez en mi propia habitación, y a medida que la cantidad de encargos creció, amplié el tamaño del estudio. Todo en el estudio está hecho por los miembros de nuestra familia Dollshe Craft, incluyendo la pintura de las paredes y las lámparas del techo. Realmente me hacen percatarme de las marcas del tiempo que ha pasado. No es un estudio bonito, pero es el lugar más cómodo para hacer muñecas. Tomé las fotos de cada parte del estudio yo mismo. Aquí hay algunas fotos del estudio, y también del equipamiento para ejercitarnos.

DollsheCraft workspace.


Dollshe has a big variety of sculpts, and all of them are amazing. Do you have any goal or design motto?
It takes about 6 months to make the prototype of a new doll including design. It take as long as 1 year sometimes. There are so many things I want to make but I cannot physically make all of them. I am trying my very best for each one I make and just want to make the doll as perfect as possible. Recently I have been making dolls using unified mobility structure and method to complete each lineup per its age group. They are very realistic but not 100% realistic. I give it a big thought every time because BJDs have joints and rather than making them realistic, it is important that BJD’s form of beauty is magnified.
We have be making realistic dolls for each age group for a while and soon will complete the full lineup. After then I will make more various style of doll as limited version as well as some animal BJDs.
Dollshe tiene una gran variedad de moldes, y todos son increíbles. ¿Tienes algún objetivo o meta de diseño?
Me lleva alrededor de 6 meses hacer el prototipo de una nueva muñeca, incluyendo el diseño. A veces, toma tanto como un año. Hay tantas cosas que quiero hacer pero no puedo físicamente hacerlas todas. Estoy intentando lo mejor para cada una, y simplemente quiero hacer las muñecas tan perfectas como sea posible. Recientemente he estado haciendo muñecas usando el método de estructura de movilidad unificada para completar cada línea por edad del grupo. Son bastante realistas, pero no 100% realistas. Pienso mucho en ellos todo el tiempo, porque las BJDs tienen articulaciones y en lugar de hacerlas realistas, es importante que la forma de belleza de una BJD sea magnidicada.
Hemos estado haciendo muñecos realistas por un tiempo, y pronto completaremos todas las escalas. Luego de eso, voy a hacer más estilos de muñecas como versiones limitadas, y también BJDs animales.


Which is the process of designing a new doll? How many people work at Dollshe Craft?
All production process is executed and finished from one studio. We had outsourced the casting in 2005 for a while, however, we had faced problems with quality and shipping schedule. Ever since we decided to cast orders ourselves, all process is done from our own studio. However, we still outsource for clothes, wigs, shoes, and etc. We made them years ago but never had chance to take pictures and upload them.
I am busy enough with making the prototype these days. I make the prototype and name them myself. I do ask around for other people’s opinion on the name I made up but without an appropriate reason I do not change the name I chose. I do not change the name to suit one’s taste because it is not that my taste is wrong but rather different.
We have about 10 family members that permanently reside in Dollshe Craft. Sometimes when we are busy, we hire part-time workers to tape up the silicon mold which is used for casting. Other than that we have about 2 outsourced human resources. Attached picture is the production flow manual which we send to our customers along with the doll. We write the names of people who contributed in making the doll. It has a symbolic purpose but on the other hand, it is our duty. These are the names of staffs who play key roles in the studio.
¿Cuál es el proceso de diseñar una nueva muñeca? ¿Cuántas personas trabajan el DollsheCraft?
Todo el proceso es ejecutado y terminado en un estudio. En 2005 tercerizamos el casteo por un tiempo, pero tuvimos problemas de calidad y con el cronograma de envíos. Desde entonces, decidimos castear los encargos nosotros mismos, y todo el proceso se hace en nuestro estudio. De todas formas, aún tercerizamos ropa, pelucas, zapatos, etc. Años atrás las hacíamos, pero nunca tuvimos la oportunidad de fotografiarlas y subirlas.
En estos días estoy bastante ocupado haciendo los prototipos. Yo los hago y les doy un nombre. Les pido la opinión sobre el nombre, pero sin una justificación apropiada, no cambio el nombre que elijo. No cambio los nombres para adecuarse a una sola persona porque no es que mi gusto sea erróneo, sino diferente. Tenemos 10 personas que residen permanentemente en DollsheCraft. A veces, cuando estamos ocupados, contratamos trabajadores a medio tiempo para sellar los moldes de silicona que usamos para castear. Después de eso, tenemos dos personas tercerizadas.
La siguiente foto es el manual de producción que le enviamos a nuestros clientes junto con la muñeca. Escribimos los nombres de aquellas personas que contribuyeron en hacer la muñeca. Tiene un propósito simbólico, pero en otra mano, es nuestro deber. Estos son nombres de personas que tienen roles claves en el estudio.

Dollshe's production flow maunal with.


One of the newest lines are the Fashion Line, and the new 1/6 sculpts Rosa/Robin. How did this idea came to you, and what can you tell us about them?
It has been a long time since I started working on Rosa and Robin. I have always made adult dolls so it is normal that I want to make cute little children dolls. In addition, I am a father of two daughters. The first daughter is now 9 years old and the little one is 3 years old. They are the most lovely things in the world and they mean everything to me. I am thinking of making more cute and adorable little dolls as a gift to my daughters. I had tough time designing the adult dolls but when I was designing Rosa and Robin it was a lot easier as I was imagining of friendly brothers and sisters. I am working on more 8B and 6G Classic heads and they will be introduced soon.
Una de las líneas más nuevas es Fashion Line, y los nuevos moldes 1/6 Rosa y Robin. ¿Cómo llegaste a la idea de hacerlos, y qué puedes comentarnos al respecto?
Ha sido un largo tiempo desde que comencé a trabajar en Rosa y Robin. He hecho muñecos adultos así que sólo es normal que quiera hacer niños pequeños en muñecas. Además, soy padre de dos hijas. La primera tiene 9 años y la segunda 3 años, y son las más adorables en el mundo y significan todo para mí. Estoy pensando en hacer más muñecas pequeñas y adorables como un regalo a mis hijas. Tuve unos momentos difíciles diseñando las muñecas adultas, pero cuando trabajé en Rosa y Robin todo fue mucho más fácil dado que los imaginaba como hermanos y hermanas. Estoy trabajando en más cabezas de las líneas 8B y 6G Classic, que serán introducidas muy pronto.

Dollshe Rosa & Robin in both available sizes.


You also have a line of urethane eyes! Why did you decided to work on this? What can you tell us about them?
Dollshe Craft will make everything related to BJDs. We cannot make everything at the moment so we will concentrate on making the dolls until this year and soon enough we will prepare to make clothes, shoes, wigs and even the accessories. In the process of which, we were able to make the eyes. Dollshe Craft dolls are realistic so I wanted to make eyes that are even more realistic.
¡También tienen una línea de ojos de uretano! ¿Por qué decidiste trabajar en esto? ¿Qué puedes comentarnos al respecto?
Dollshe Craft hará todo lo relacionado con BJDs. No podemos hacerlo en el momento, pore so nos concentraremos en hacer muñecas hasta fin de año, y pronto nos prepararemos para hacer ropa, zapatos, pelucas y accesorios. En ese proceso, fuimos capaces de hacer los ojos. Las muñecas de Dollshe Craft son realistas, así que quería ojos que fueran aún más realistas.

Dollshe Urethane Eyes color chart.


Dollshe Craft also offers a casting service for artists. How do this works? How many people work at the casting service? Are the store (Dollshe dolls) and the casting service related, or do they work independently? Why did you decide to offer this service?
We have outsourced the casting service back in 2005, but we had too many problems. It took too long to finish casting and the quality was not good enough either. They could not provide uniform skin color. It was very stressful back then and thought to myself that it would be great if there is a reliable studio which provides casting services for other artists. Therefore, we decided to take casting orders from other artists.
It requires about 5 people for casting. It is operated based on reservation and it normally takes about 3 months to finish but when we are busy, it requires as long as 6 months of waiting time. Dollshe Craft Casting service is conducted and operated by Dollshe Craft itself.
Dollshe Craft también ofrece un Sistema de casteo para artistas. ¿Cómo funciona esto? ¿Cuántas personas trabajan allí? ¿La tienda (Dollshe dolls) y el servicio de casteo están relacionados o funcionan independientemente? ¿Cómo decidiste ofrecer este servicio?
En 2005 tercerizábamos el servicio pero tuvimos muchos problemas. Llevaba mucho tiempo terminar de castear y la calidad no era demasiado Buena. No podían proveer un color de piel uniforme. Fue muy estresante y pensé para mí que sería genial si hubiera un estudio confiable que proveyera servicios de casteo a otros artistas.
Requiere cinco personas castear. Está operado por reservación y normalmente toma tres meses que terminen, pero cuando están ocupados, puede tomar hasta seis meses de espera. El servicio de cateo es conducido y operado por Dollshe Craft.


Sadly, the hobby is suffering due to recasts. What is your statement on the matter?
We have stated our official position regarding this matter on our website. Many people and organizations are suffering because of recasts. I think it would be extremely difficult to eradicate recasts completely. Dollshe Craft will continue to make our own dolls with our very best effort. As long as there are customers who love the originals, we will not stop making the dolls. We were stressed due to recasts as well. It got me furious sometimes. However, since it is not possible to get rid of it completely, we have no choice but to concentrate on what we can do.
Lamentablemente, el hobby está sufriendo mucho debido a los recasts. ¿Cuál es tu opinion al respect?
Hemos dejado claro nuestra posición respecto a esto en el sitio web. Muchas personas y organizaciones están sufriendo debido a los recasts. Creo que es extremadamente difícil erradicar a los recasts completamente. Dollshe Craft va a continuar hacienda nuestras muñecas con el mejor de los esfuerzos. Mientras haya clientes que amen los originales, no dejaremos de hacer muñecas. Estábamos muy estresados por los recasts. A veces me vuelvo furioso. Como sea, dado que no es posible eliminarlos completamente, no tenemos opción más que concentrarnos en lo que podemos hacer.


Finally, is there anything more you’ll like to share with us?
Please love our BJDs and we ask for your continuous love and support for originals rather than recasts.
Finalmente, ¿hay algo más que te gustaría compartir con nosotros?
Por favor, amen nuestras BJDs y les pedimos su continuo amor y apoyo a los originales antes que a los recasts.


Dollshe Grant Philippe


Thank you so much for doing the interview! It was a pleasure!
It was my pleasure to join the interview. I am handling very busy schedule to release the whole lineup within this year. I will try to share more through my Facebook. I wish all of you the very best of luck with everything.
¡Muchas gracias por hacer la entrevista! ¡Fue un placer!
Fue mi placer unirme a las entrevistas. Estoy administrando un cronograma bastante complicado para sacar toda una línea dentro de este año. Compartiré más en mi Facebook. Les deseo a todos la mejor de las suertes con todo!


Dollshe Ausley Love



I hope you have enjoyed this interview!!! I personally found it very inspiring and it was an honor for me to do it. I contacted Dollshe back on December 2015, because I knew they had a busy schedule and they would probably need time. Here are some links were you can find them:

Finally, on a side note... check the Etsy! There are some leather bags in stock left, and commissions are also open! :D Have a great weekend everyone!

14 comments :

  1. Best interview ever!!! He seems so sweet~ and handsome too! X)
    I think they put so much effort and thought in their dolls and you can tell the minute you receive their boxes, which are so well done (the card and the CoA are stunning and everything looks that was made with love).

    What a great way to celebrate the 3rd year of interviews :D

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    1. Happy you liked the interview!
      I couldn't believe how much time passed already. I feel like I started yesterday with the interviews!

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  2. Awesome interview, it was great to hear more about the company and the people behind it!

    And congrats on the 3-year "anniversary" of doing these interviews! :D Hope you'll continue doing them in the future as well, I always enjoy reading them~

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    1. Glad you liked the interview! I found it so inspirational!
      And I will continue making them, I already contacted another artist for March :D

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  3. Wow. That was such a great interview! *__*
    I'm starting to want a DollShe doll now XD
    He is so sweet and interesting. Sad he couldn't go to the Euro Military convention thing. His work is so amazing! I mean, all those crazy details on such a small scale is really something! :O
    I hope DollShe will be able to produce shoes, clothes etc. They really make top notch work in all they do.
    Best of luck to him and his crew! Thanks for making the interview Musume :D

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    1. Yay, happy you liked the interview!
      I loved their ideas and found them so inspiring! :D

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  4. Wow, such an amazing read! :D Dollshe is one if the most passionate companies ~ I like their attitude :3

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    1. Indeed! :D This is one of my favorite interviews so far!

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  5. Thoroughly engrossed the whole way through this interview. Thanks Musume, it was very enlightening to read how the company began and how they have developed along the way.
    Hugs,
    X

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    1. That is the idea! Learn more about the artists that make this hobby this special!

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  6. Wow, that was fabulous to read how it all began! He is so talented artist.

    Thank you for making these series of interviews for us to read. ^__^ And good luck for the future ones too!

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    1. Glad you liked the interview!
      So far I have no plans to stop making interviews :D

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  7. Really great interview! He has such a unique take and skill. Really enjoyed this!

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