I am a creative person – there is no escaping it!
My friends describe me as a ball of creativity, quirky and unique. I live for new ideas, innovation and aesthetics.
I have designed and made things all my life, and I can remember making dolls out of whatever I could find in the house – from old orange pillowcases for a rag doll to dried spaghetti for a family for my (handmade-from-a-cardboard-box) doll’s house.
My creativity was directed in a more engaging route and after taking art and design for GCSEs and A Levels I went on to study Industrial Design at Brunel. I graduated with a first (BSc Hons) and went on to work for big brands in Design Management.
Once I became a mother I knew that the high-paced corporate world didn’t fit with the parenting style I wanted. As a mother of two, I am passionate about providing a fun, inspirational and educational environment for my girls which nurtures creativity and ingenuity. I started to make dolls again, for them, and rediscovered my passion.
My doll making business brings all parts of me together – it allows me to combine my creative skills, business mind and, most importantly, motherhood.
With Polly had a Dolly, I have tried to bring back a part of childhood that sadly seems lost in today’s world of screens and indoor, passive play. That innocence of childhood which only requires the very basic to stimulate a universe of imagination, creating the most magical of moments.
I live in Staplehurst, Kent, UK and all my dolls are made in my home workshop. Staplehurst is a pretty little village in the weald of Kent – Darling Buds of May by HE Bates is based here. The open countryside and beautiful weather inspires my work.