Posts Tagged ‘doll designers’

Interview with Stacey McBride Irby

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009
Stacey with 1st and 2nd Waves of So in Style dolls

Stacey with 1st and 2nd Waves of So in Style dolls

docHi Stacey, firstly thank you so much for allowing me the opportunity to interview you.
smi – I also want to start off by thanking you! If I’m not mistaken, other than Essence.com your site was one of the first to post pictures and blog about my So In Style dolls.

docI would like to start off by firstly congratulating you on the sold out success of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Barbie (I have one, I LOVE HER!) and ongoing sales of the So In Style (from hereon to be referred to as SiS) dolls!
smi – Thank you! I really enjoyed creating the AKA Barbie for such a prominent group of women. Designing this doll actually gave me the extra push to start creating the SIS line of dolls.

 

docSo, to start off this interview I would like to ask you about the original concept of the SiS dolls. How long ago did the idea of this doll line come up? What influenced you in the concept design stage of these dolls? Did your daughter influence your designs?
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African Royalty by EthiDolls

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

On my daily internet surfing adventures *cough* I found a company by the name of EthiDolls that made collectible African historical characters. They were formed in 2003 and are based in the USA.

Currently, they have two dolls in their line – Makeda, The Queen of Sheba (modern day Ethiopia – East Africa) and Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa of the Asante (modern day Ghana – West Africa).

Queen of Sheba

Queen of Sheba

Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa

Queen Mother Yaa Asantewaa

These dolls are 16 inch tall and hand crafted by Madame Alexander (The Alexander Doll Company, Inc.) and at USD $139 each, they are a bit pricey so I guess I’ll be admiring from afar for a while.

This is an excerpt of the company’s profile -

Established in 2003, EthiDolls® is a developer of collectible quality, educational, African dolls and accessories, based in New York City. The company’s mission is to create unique dolls and related accessories that help children and adults embrace African heritage, culture and tradition.
Salome Yilma, EthiDolls’ CEO, conceived and designed the line of learning and exploration products along with Yeworkwoha Ephrem, EthiDolls’ EVP. Both women are Ethiopian entrepreneurs living in the New York area.
Through EthiDolls, Ms. Yilma and Ms. Ephrem plan to develop a line of culturally authentic and unique Signature Dolls and Accessories that teach history, celebrate cultural diversity and offer new play patterns.

http://www.ethidolls.com/about_us.htm

(accessed 20 August 2009)

Apparently, King Solomon’s son Menelik by Makeda took the Ark of the Covenant back to Ethiopia after he visited his father. I find this story terribly intriguing… even to this day this story is still quite a mystery.

SiS Designer on Twitter

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

The designer of the SiS dolls and the gorgeous AKA Centennial doll is on twitter – twitter.com/StaceyMcIrby

cartoon version stacey

cartoon version stacey

Show her how awesome we think she is by following her tweets! To the best of my knowledge, she’s the first Mattel designer to use twitter – what a lovely lady, so in touch with the peoples (her fans)!

isn't she just so bright and gorgeous?

isn't she just so radiant and gorgeous?

PS. please send me some love too lol @ twitter.com/dollsofcolor

Mattel’s Talented WOC Designers

Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Linda K & Stacey M-I

Linda K & Stacey M-I

HT BCLisaS via Twitter

Obviously Mattel MUST know that people/women of colour exist because they have in their employment these two uber talented and gorgeous doll designers! So can we get more dolls that look like your designers Mattel? (and thanks again to Stacey M-I for those lovely So in Style girls – now, if only they were sold outside of the USA…)

Can Takeo Mizutani NOT be a ninja, please?

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Dear Jason Wu, why does the only East Asian guy in your Fashion Royalty series have to be a ninja? Aren’t YOU sick of people thinking all Asians know martial arts and kung fu?

mister ninja

mister ninja

Why couldn’t he be… umm… a designer? Or a photographer… or chef even?

jason wu = asian guy = designer

jason wu = asian guy = designer

regular guy

regular guy

If you ever add a South Asian guy to your set of characters, please don’t make him a call centre guy no matter how exciting his secret identity is… thanks.

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