By Kathryn Peck

“For realism, it’s simple,” says head sculptor Salvador Berenguer. “Use real life as your inspiration: a child playing in the park, a mother holding her newborn—whatever it is that catches your eye.”

Salvador is the sole creator of the smiling, yawning, giggling, pouting, and sometimes crying baby faces of Dolls by Berenguer. He designs for both the company’s Special Edition Collector Dolls, a line primarily for adult collectors and available in limited-edition sizes, and the Specialty Play Dolls, a collection designed with the young collector—or the young collector in all of us—in mind. Sculpting so many expressions for all the lines is truly an “amazing accomplishment, if you think about it,” says Laura Cerdá of Dolls by Berenguer. In each tiny face, Salvador captures the purity and innocence of a baby, and with this he continues a long family tradition of realism and beauty in design. “The hard part is then bringing [realism] to life in a sculpt,” Salvador adds, “and that takes time and patience.” 

In 1944, Salvador’s father, Jose Berenguer, began designing dolls from his hometown in Castalla, Spain. His Berjusa® dolls, as they were called, were loved by many and quickly earned a reputation of excellence and eye-catching realism. In 1964, Salvador embraced his innate talent for sculpting dolls and decided to follow in his father’s footsteps. “I was in my 20s and full of ideas,” recalls Salvador. 

Working side by side with his father, Salvador learned a great deal about the art of sculpting and of recreating the lifelike details of a baby’s expression. Salvador admits that at times working so closely with his father may have been difficult, “but most of the time it was a lot of fun to work with him,” he says. At some point, Salvador also learned, without a doubt, how to bring realism to life in his sculpts.
In 1992, the Berjusa company closed its doors, and a year later Salvador joined Dolls by Berenguer and its founder Juan Cerdá. The company name had changed, but the principles of craftsmanship that Salvador had learned from his father and continued to practice remained the same.

Each year, Dolls by Berenguer introduces dozens of new faces and dolls to its expanding lines, and thanks to Salvador’s continuing efforts, the expressions remain delightfully realistic and also completely new and unique each year. “I really try to catch that look, yawn, smile … whatever it is that will make a sculpt really different,” he says. Juan’s daughter Laura, who has worked for Dolls by Berenguer for four years now, says that it is Salvador’s attention to detail and the sweet expressions he creates that sets his sculpts apart from the rest. “He really has an amazing skill in sculpting children,” she says, “and those glances that just melt your heart when you look at them.”

Salvador favors newborn sculpts and estimates that to date he has created more than 1,000 different face sculpts. Producing a new sculpt can take anywhere from just a few hours to possibly weeks. In his work, Salvador, like many artists, admits to feelings of frustration and perhaps even sometimes wanting to pull his hair out when a sculpt isn’t just right, but he’s also not afraid to simply start over from the very beginning. “It’s honestly an ongoing learning experience,” he says. “It’s funny, but I really put a lot of pressure on myself not to create a similar face to ones that I have created before. I want each sculpt to have its own personality and for a collector to see something in it.” What can differentiate one sculpt from the next may be something as big as a completely different form of the mouth or something so small as a slight sideways glance of the eyes.

“Most people are shocked at such realism!” says Laura. “We have a lot of people who tell us that our dolls look like a child the family. We even get photos sent to our office with their child or grandchild sitting next to our dolls. The resemblance sometimes is quite extraordinary!”

With children and grandchildren of his own, there’s no shortage of inspiration for Salvador’s distinguishing facial expressions. “Everyday life inspires me,” he adds. “Since starting to design, I look at children and people differently. I see a story with their look, their smile.” In today’s fast-paced world, perhaps just taking a moment to stop, listen, and look around is inspiration enough. “What also inspires me is the chance to do something different with every new design.”

Dolls by Berenguer is a family-owned business, and the design of each baby face is a family tradition that Salvador carries on. “It brings a great personal satisfaction and pride to be able to continue this wonderful art form. I honestly look back sometimes and think, it’s amazing that I’m still designing dolls till this day,” says Salvador. “It’s been a great feat for me—and fun!”

For more information of Dolls by Berenguer, visit www.jctoys.com.

Buy this Issue: November 2007