BENGALURU: Dolls are a part of a bride’s narration from when she is a child. She learns to dream of her dream wedding through the eyes of a doll, playing with them and planning a doll wedding and a perfect home. So it is only natural that dolls and dreams come full circle at a bride’s wedding.
South Indian weddings, especially, celebrate a special custom of displaying miniature dolls depicting the beauty of Indian weddings and their customs, beautifully weaving nostalgia and hope as a part of the special day.
This tradition, unique to South India, is now witnessing a wider audience, as people from other parts of India are also keen on making these dolls a part of their wedding customs. Traditional antique clay and wood dolls are passed down to the bride as a keepsake from her maternal family, and the more modern dolls are decorated in a narrative fashion and displayed for the guests to admire and enjoy.
Divya Tejaswi is a doll maker/decorator who works on the modern art of doll making, a talent she inherited from her mother. She has been designing dolls for her clients, to be displayed at weddings and be gifted to guests. Named after her mother, Lalitha Dolls is where she not only found her calling but also ensured that many handicraft workers found their recognition.
Lalitha, who was a biology teacher at a school in Bengaluru, lost her job during the Covid pandemic, and after spending a lot of time trying to figure out her true calling, sat down one day to decorate her daughter’s dolls, and discovered her unique talent. “After personalizing my daughter’s dolls for the first time, I simply uploaded pictures online for fun, and got an almost immediate response for the dolls. In fact, in a matter of days, I got my first-ever order online for 20 personalized dolls from someone who wanted to gift them. This came as a blessing and there has been no looking back from that day.”
“My first design was something of an experiment. After that, for a long time, my clients have guided me, based on their requirements for the occasion. I would customise dolls, and this was something not many would be willing to do. From planning, sketching and detailing of the scenes, we need to ensure that we are able to do justice to the client’s requirements as well,” she said.
Ceremonial ideas
What started with just one person decorating dolls to cater to a niche audience, has now become a full-blown space for women using their talent to support their families as well. “Today, many women are a part of Lalitha Dolls, either on a temporary, seasonal basis or as permanent employees. We make dolls not just out of plastic and synthetic material, but also knit body parts of dolls using eco-friendly materials like wool and thread. While the market for this may still be growing, we are glad to have been able to bring more innovative ideas into the market.”Other than wedding ceremonies, these dolls are now a part of baby showers, naming ceremonies and birthday parties. Displaying dolls for ceremonies is not just a custom anymore, it has become a statement at weddings where the dolls are displayed on a special stage.
Knitting dolls
Just like Divya, there is another artist who makes eco-friendly dolls. For 68-year-old KS Nagamani, knitting is a part of her life. Nagamani has been knitting from a young age, and has single-handedly completed many sets of dolls that are displayed at festive occasions, including Dasara. While woollen dolls are not very popular at wedding decorations yet, people are experimenting with them as well.
Speaking to TNSE, Nagamani’s daughter Roopa explained that knitting has been something that her mother has been pursuing as a hobby for years. “We used to encourage her to knit, and she would knit table covers, and wall hangings for the home, or toranas which would add an aesthetic value. However, she was never big on putting her art for sale earlier. Over time, she took it upon herself as a challenge to try and knit dolls, which she was able to complete in a short time span. She then turned to knitting dolls on a regular basis.”
A native of Kattehosahalli, a remote village in Holenarsipur taluk, Nagamani found more exposure to her art after marriage. “After completing her first doll, she created more dolls by knitting, and decided to display them for Dasara. After displaying individual dolls for a couple of years, she decided to complete her set with only knit dolls for this year’s Dasara. Most of the year went in completing different sets of dolls that she had planned, and she was able to display the entire set with more than 20 dolls.”
“It was then that many people took notice of her art, and she saw potential in her art form. She has always flown solo, and I am so proud of her that even at this age she is able to do everything all by herself,” added Roopa.
It is people like Nagamani who prove that age is no reason to stop working on something you love. With handmade dolls gaining popularity not just as a festive decoration, but also as gifts, the art of creating and weaving them is becoming a trend. An art form that otherwise goes unnoticed, doll making has found a platform and recognition in today’s tech age.