I’m about to bring you on a journey which includes two beautiful sisters. These women are dripping in talent, and overflowing with creativity. They are totally driven by a passion that burns deep inside both of their hearts and souls. The Popovy Sisters, and their intricate, stunning, one of a kind, Ball Joint Dolls. Twin Sisters, Ekaterina and Elena Popovy, also known as Katya and Lena, are professional artists and fashion designers from Perm Russia. They both graduated from Ural State Academy of Architecture and Arts in Yekaterinburg Russia. They decided to start making dolls in 2004. It was around this time that a lot of doll collectors started asking themselves, “What if one day these creations could become posable”? In 2012 it finally happened, the sisters introduced the first pictures of their “SISTERS” articulated doll line to the Russian audience. With these dolls they participated in exhibitions in Japan and Germany. The dolls became an instant hit, and sold out immediately! Now there’s a waiting list for those collectors who dream of owning one of these unbelievable creations.
In the beginning they tried to not only make portrait dolls, but also convey the nature of the characters through their gestures and costumes. However, portrait dolls didn’t seem to allow them to express themselves as designers, so they started experimenting with different materials. They finally found the perfect solution, they combined their passion for doll art with their passion for fashion design. Which has now grown into small conceptual collections of 10 – 15 dolls. Here’s a little secret for you, each and every doll has a tiny hand painted butterfly somewhere on it. I love that! Here’s a breakdown of their creative process in their own words:
“There’s a huge amount of preparative work that goes on behind every collection. First, there’s an idea/emotion, that is born. From there we develop a concept for the project, then we start preparative work, such as: we learn the history, search for the images, develop the texture, choose technique, and draw sketches. Figures, gestures, stylization, artistic delivery, and costume design, all go along with one theme to express the idea to maximum extent! Every doll is handmade from start to finish, with a TON of love from each of us”.
The sisters make one collection a year, and they exhibit these beautiful dolls all over the world. The exhibitions bring them tons of positive emotions. The girls love watching peoples faces when they finally see their work for the first time. The reaction of their audience is very meaningful to the sisters. It’s like that moment in time, when everything they’ve been working so diligently on all year, is born in a sense, and given to the public.
They’ve won several awards for their creations as well. Their dolls can also be found in various publications throughout the world. Including Beautiful Bizarre Magazine’s very first issue ever in July of 2013! It’s hard to not be completely drawn in by the allure of their dolls. It’s like you can feel their emotions, almost hear what they’re thinking, they’re made to such a point of perfection, that it’s just sheer elegance at it’s finest. It truly is.
