Archive of products sold during the

10 years our high street shop was open

1997 - 2006

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Original designs were quite different to the familiar dolls of today, with classically dressed men and women forming the set. The well recognised young girl with a smiling face came much later when the product was exported in communist times. Nearly all of the exported dolls came from one factory in the town of Semyenov near the city of Nizhney Novgorod. This is the “traditional” red/yellow design.

Until the time of Perestroika (rebuilding) there was a large number of different factories in towns such as Tver, Sergiev Posad, Lipyetsk, Polkhov Maiden and Kirov, each producing its own different styles. Today many of these are but a memory.

Production today is concentrated amongst teams of highly skilled and dedicated artists. They not only produce traditional styles but also detailed water colours of famous writers, artists or composers as well as old Russian Fairy Tales.

All dolls are made of Russian lime as the weak grain in this particular wood means it will maintain its shape when it has been hollowed out. Painting is either with gouache paint or watercolour. Work on a detailed watercolour of 10 pieces can take a month to complete.

The nesting doll, or matrioshka, is recognised all over the world as one of Russia’s most famous exports. In fact in its present form it is only about 100 years old, having its origins shortly before the great Paris Exhibition at the start of the twentieth century. It marked the culmination of a competition, which was won by Sergei Malyutin, to find a product suitable to represent Russia at that exhibition. His drawings were transformed into reality at the commune in Abramtsova just north of Moscow.

RUSSIAN DOLLS