Germany
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Heidi, second from left, and her team. |
By Marianne Clay
Twenty-five years ago, Heidi Plusczok made her first doll from Cernit for her 10-year-old daughter Katja, basing the doll's design on the celluloid doll she received as a little girl from her grandmother. A year later, she was making porcelain dolls and soon was specializing in portrait dolls. Ten years later, she was presenting her work at Toy Fair, and she still vividly recalls trying to get herself from Kennedy Airport to her hotel, knowing just a few words of English.
Today, with assistance from her team of four talented women, including daughter Katja, Heidi creates 12 to 15 new dolls each year—limited editions in both vinyl and porcelain. But what hasn't changed is what Heidi almost always sculpts—little girls. Their faces capture the natural expressions, feelings, and gestures of real little girls. "I attach great importance in a natural expression," Heidi says, "in capturing the gestures and features of children, and in reproducing the feelings and moods of a moment."
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From left to right, Heidi Plusczok's 2005 collection includes the 23-1/2-inch anniversary doll Nicoletta, 23-inch Scarlett, 25-1/2-inch Antonia, and 8-1/2-inch Francy. All are vinyl with poseable cloth bodies and all, except Francy, are limited to 101. Francy is limited to 120. |
"She has," says team member Katia Langel, "the gift not only to see the visible but also to sense what is behind. Her goal is to give every doll exactly the expression of the feeling she was thinking of when she created it. Heidi's creativity literally bursts from her, and we, as her team, are challenged to follow."
Heidi lives and works in the little village of Nidderau 12 miles east of Frankfurt, Germany. "She lives right across the road from the local kindergarten and school," Katia explains. "The kids she sees walking by her house or even sometimes stopping to play in front are her inspiration for new dolls."
To create the dozen or so new dolls each year, Heidi works between 12 and 15 hours a day across work space that includes a showroom, an office, a big studio where the dolls are assembled and dressed, the room with the kiln for firing the porcelain, and the workshop where she sculpts and prepares the vinyl pieces. Heidi personally paints each one of her dolls, whether vinyl or porcelain. On warm sunny days, she likes to paint outside on the patio, so there she sits, surrounded by doll heads waiting to come alive under her brush.
In addition to being hand-painted by her, each of her dolls has a hand-made wig in either human hair or mohair. For flexibility and natural posing, each doll is built around a wire frame, and an integrated breast-plate ensures a natural posture for the head. The dolls wear beautiful dresses that are often hand-embroidered. As a first step in creating the dresses, Heidi spends two weeks every year in Indonesia with her longtime friend and designer, Rosemarie Ionker. Together they pick out beautiful fabrics and plan the designs.
For her 25th anniversary, Heidi created two anniversary dolls, 23-1/2-inch Nicoletta, and 9-inch Patsi. For the anniversary celebration, Patsi is now touring the U.S., and in every state she visits, she will wear outfits typifying that state, from a cowboy hat and boots for Texas to swimwear for Florida. After the U.S. tour, Patsi will go on a worldwide trip.
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Heidi's 9-inch anniversary doll Patsi comes in this wardrobe case wearing a flowered winter dress, sweater, hat, and leather boots. But with the arrival of warm weather, she can quickly change into her summer dress with straw hat and leather sandals. Limited to 480. |
Heidi seems to know exactly what collectors want, and she credits that knowledge to her love for talking to the collectors at the many signings she attends at retail shops. She believes today many collectors want to not only look at their artist dolls but also to play with their dolls, so she likes to offer small dolls with additional outfits and accessories to spark play. Heidi knew her other anniversary doll, Nicoletta, would please her collectors, too. "Nicoletta was an award-winning doll in 1999, and my anniversary re-make is both a recall of memories and a totally new character. But she sold out, too, so we created a new Nicoletta for the European edition."
Heidi has received many awards for her work and much praise for her dolls, but she never takes all the credit for herself. "Behind my work are the helping hands of my team," Heidi says. "We have a lot of fun together, and even on those days when things don't go so smooth, together we find a solution to every little trouble."
