Frida

We are twin sisters Ekaterina and Elena Popovy, professional artists and fashion designers. We were born and grew up in Perm, Russia. We graduated Ural State Academy of Architecture and Arts in Yekaterinburg. We started making dolls in 2004.

At the beginning we were interested in realistic human gesture. The magic of certain personalities inspired us to create their images. We tried not only to make portrait dolls but also to convey the nature of the characters through the gesture and costumes. Before making a portrait doll of the personality we were interested in we made a thorough research of the biography, read interviews, gathered photos and videos. Thanks to this interest we deepened our knowledge of human anatomy and facial gesture. We also learned to work with various artistic materials: china, self fusing plastics (paperclay, efa plast, la doll), fumo, baked plastics.

However portrait doll didn’t let us express ourselves as designers and we started experimenting with materials. Finally we found a perfect solution by combining our passion for fashion design and dolls art. This has grown into small conceptual collections of 10 to 15 dolls.

Huge amount of preparative work is behind every collection. First an idea/emotion is born and we develop a concept of a project. Then we start preparative work: we learn the history, search for the images, develop the texture, choose technique and draw sketches. Figure’s gesture, stylization, artistic delivery and costume design all of this goes along with one theme to express the idea to maximum extent.

The first conceptual project called fashionMOON was presented at the 3^rdInternational Salon in Moscow. The collection was readily accepted by the audience and justified our boldest expectations. The project received two high awards. This was a powerful motivation for our further creative work.

We challenge ourselves with every new collection. We make several dolls or one collection a year. Every doll is handmade from start to finish. We make them patiently, thoughtfully and with a lot of love. We always work together, inspiring and completing each other, besides it’s interesting and a lot of fun.

During our artistic life we took part in many events: in Yekaterinburg fashion shows and festivals, art-salons in Perm, Novosibirsk, Moscow and international salons in Russia, Lithuania and Japan.

You can see our dolls not only at the events but in various publications, including foreign ones that call us the “new wave of Russian art-doll designers”

Reaction of our audience is very important to us. We love watching the people’s faces. The exhibitions bring us heaps of positive emotions, interesting acquaintances and warm talks with colleagues and audience.

Our projects are not only dolls, but also the way we present them to the audience. This includes decorating of the display area and playing background music. The music is written by Igor Korzhov, a Ukrainian musician (Necrotic Trust project).

Profession associations (we are the members of):

Team Koyaala,  Japan

TSHR, Творческий Союз художников России (Creative Union of  Russian Artists)

MOAK, Международная Организация авторов кукол (International Association of Doll Artists)

UAHK, Ural Association of Doll Artists