Marilyn Neuhart Dolls

We first stumbled upon this great story via Sprayblog. It's the tale of designer and writer Marilyn Neuhart who worked closely with the legendary Alexander Girard and Charles and Ray Eames. In 1961 Alexander Girard asked Marilyn to create 100 of her beautiful dolls for his Textile & Objects store. Back then she used Mexican cotton from a family-owned mill and when asked recently asked to create four new designs by House Industries she used the same supplier.

Maximo has lots more details about Neuhart and her work. I'm sure this quote from her will strike a chord with many of you:

"I sew because I have to-it is just that simple. After a long day hunched over my computer dealing with the vagaries of English spelling, clumsy syntax and wayward grammar, not to mention computer crashes and arbitrary and demanding clients, I look forward to time spent with my needle and thread, the tactile delight of cloth in my hands and the pleasure of working with color and form-nothing is more life-sustaining and yes, it has to be said-more therapeutic."

This picture of the dolls displayed on the wall is wonderful, it's exciting to think about our Momiji doll exhibition at Royal/T!

So, Marilyn used simple yet stylish print techniques on cotton to create her dolls. Which techniques are you guys using for your Momiji Couture dolls? Or is that top-secret?

photo credits: House Industries