Until recently I hadn’t thought that doll makers in the traditional sense still existed. The concept always drummed up imaginings of little 19th-century shops lined with countless porcelain dolls for little girls. I was sure there were some hobbyists out there that might make one now and then, but it wasn’t until I encountered Nefer Kane , doll maker, that I realised that it wasn’t so dead of a culture after all. I stumbled across her little shop quite by accident while looking for something completely different at the time but she side tracked me with her fascinating wares...
Each doll is completely different from the rest and each piece is a work of art in itself. Frequently when I come across a handmade shop similar to hers I find that the products generally have some ‘theme’ that they’re trying to sell that binds the pieces together as a sort of collection. But these pieces don’t behave that way. They stand on their own, each a unique work to be treasured with a completely different story from the rest. And yes, I do think each piece carries with them a story and not one that needs to be explained aloud. Just looking at the doll triggers the imagination with all the carefully applied details and features. I found myself swept away, not even needing to look at the product description as the life of the doll just poured out to me. Does it sound like I’m getting carried away? Perhaps I’m gushing but I am impressed by the amount of energy spent into each doll.
What really blew me away was her lack of moulds. Each detail and application is hand fashioned, ensuring that each doll is unique from the start of the build. The attention to detail is astounding. Everything from the lids of the eyes to the notches of the wrist seems life like and realistic with each feature being done on such a fine scale it must be difficult to reproduce. I expected that she had spent many years of professional study but when I asked her she admitted to being entirely self taught. I pressed to ask about her inspiration and she had this to say:
“...A doll is a bit like a story you'd like to tell to people; you try to explain a piece of life with a sculpture, a storm can reside in an eye; so the whole humanity is the base of my inspiration. With an attitude, a sound, a particular light, you can get a miracle...”
She has a Steampunk fascination that slips out subtly in some of her work without making everything about jarring gears and heavy use of metal studs. She explained to me that Steampunk intrigues her so much because the mechanizing of the human form helps her explain human mechanics as a real concept. It’s not just a fashion thing or a way of dressing up for her which is something we don’t always see within the alternative fashion/art subculture. She describes her attitude towards her work as an environmental consequence, anything she sees or experiences can be a topic of her art. It’s not what she sees physically that inspires her; it’s what she feels at that moment in time that comes out in her work, it’s never about being trendy or cute.
As far as goth dolls go there’s plenty of those collector’s lines produced by companies with cutsie little personality dolls displaying some stereotype facet of a gothic subculture. Usually there’s a vampire goth, a little girl type goth, a punk goth, etc. and don’t get me wrong, they’re adorable but they’re hardly all that unique. So when someone does something against the grain and refuses to let the trappings of the archetype images influence their art for the sake of mass appeal it’s wonderfully refreshing. Nefer Kane never forces us to categorize her in one culture or another but I certainly feel that her unique artwork certainly has a place in a gothic/alternative home.
www.neferkane.com
