Dolls - What Is Their Future?

By Pam North

	Dolls have been with us for hundreds of years, undergoing major changes in their use and expression. They go back to the early civilizations, serving as effigies of the human form for ceremonial use, and also as crude, rudimentary playthings for children. Evolving first from simple materials such as wood, clay, leather, ivory, bone, cloth, paper, and wax, industrialization and advancing technologies led to the use of tin, composition, bisque, china, vinyl, plastic, and synthetic resin. Simple forms gave way to more complicated constructions, and lifelike eyes and hair added to the realistic illusion.  Dolls walked, talked, winked, grew longer hair, wet their diapers, and otherwise competed with each other on other levels of novelty. Costuming became more varied and intricate. Cost of dolls was tailored from the inexpensive for the masses to the luxurious playthings for the wealthy. 
	Social ramifications were manifested in dolls. From their simple beginnings, doll have grown more sophisticated in their significance, reflecting changes in social mores. Baby dolls encouraging nurturing motherly roles were joined by fashion dolls that emphasized costumes and feminine careers.  Male action figures made dolls acceptable playthings for boys. Gender became more evident in the physiques of the dolls, and also alternate sexual lifestyles were portrayed. The variety of nuances of dolls throughout the years has evolved into a mind-boggling array that would seem to leave room for nothing new under the sun, but it's not over yet. Just when the world seemingly has seen it all, even more concepts are being dreamed into existence.
	Collecting dolls became a widely popular hobby in the last century, with dolls moving over from use as toys for children into collectibles for adults. A change was in the wind, however. The sagging economy of the past few years has been a major factor to affect the collectible doll market; disposable income has suffered with the downturn, impacting many collectors' doll budgets. Social changes also appear to be behind the fewer numbers of girls who collect dolls; advances in technology have eclipsed doll collecting to the point where girls now prefer cell phones and iPods. Doll manufacturers have seen their profits decrease, forcing some to go out of business. Now the questions encompass  how collectors will continue to pursue their doll interests, and how manufacturers and retailers of dolls will respond and prosper. 
	Capturing the interest of potential collectors will be a major focus. Long-time collectors should try to share their enthusiasm for dolls by supporting and publicizing their local doll clubs and shows, and perhaps exhibiting some of their collections at schools and libraries. The social interaction of the Internet can be utilized in the form of forums or clubs. Manufacturers will have to continue to envision novel and interesting concepts in dolls to entice collectors. The Asian ball-jointed dolls (BJDs) have been one successful concept. Although these dolls are expensive, the customization avenues of changeable eyes, wigs, and costumes with these dolls excite the imagination, and allow for constant changes to keep the dolls fresh. With less buying power, many doll aficionados have been forced to approach collecting with a “less is more” philosophy, and customization possibilities can add extra dimensions to a smaller number of acquisitions. Editions should be more limited, and high quality will have to be maintained so that dolls can hold their values. Ultimate artist creations and one-of-a-kind dolls (OOAKs) can help to elevate the status of dolls and ensure more investment value. 
	Ethnicity might be a realm to explore more deeply to advance education and understanding about other cultures. The variety of the world's peoples could be portrayed more fully, and their spectrum of costumes and customs made a more visible part of the doll world.
	The quest for realism continues, something that continues to lend new dimension in its evolution. The development of new materials and technology allows dolls to become ever more lifelike, with increased articulation from ever more multiple joints. Phicen's super-flexible, 1:6 scale figures are extremely well-articulated, with a seamless silicon skin over  a stainless-steel skeleton. Their employment of a "seamless encapsulation" technique, with very few visible joints, along with the skin-like covering on these dolls, can make their bodies look startlingly real in photographs. The stainless-steel skeleton surpasses cheaper plastic ones for durability,  The silicon skin makes dressing the dolls more difficult, but the bodies are beautiful. 
	Challenge to the individual imagination of collectors is another enticing venue. Makielab is a London-based startup that 3-D prints customized action dolls called Makies. The company's description of the process is this: “Customers design their dolls on the Makie website, choosing facial features, hairstyles, eye and skin color, and selecting outfits and accessories. The 10-inch-tall, fully-poseable dolls then are manufactured using a 3-D printing technology called selective laser sintering (SLS), in which a laser fuses together particles of nylon powder to form the individual parts. The process can produce items with very high fidelity and strength, compared with the more common fused deposition modeling process (FDM), often used in desktop 3-D printers, where a filament of plastic is extruded to build up a model in layers. Digitally designed, and each one unique, Makies highlight a future trend in manufacturing – mass-customization.” 3-D printed dolls with heads cloned from real humans are the hottest rage in Japan. The cloning service is popular to preserve that special moment in life among some Japanese women, such as a wedding day, but men do it also just for fun. The subject sits in a chair surrounded by digital SLR cameras, and photos are taken in a sequence of his or her head. A digital map of the subject's head is rendered together by a technician, then printed into plaster in which layers of ink have hardened. Also from Japan is a four-foot-tall anime-inspired robot, the Smart Doll Plus, a  3-D printed creation of Danny Choo. One of the most important trends in the doll-making industry appears to be 3-D printing, and the computer-aided design (CAD) programs to create the data files for the 3-D printing. 
	Doll-making is being supremely challenged to reinvent itself, and it will be exciting to see what new delights lie ahead.