I've been meaning to post about Ugly Dolls for a while. We just got a couple for a friend's kid's first birthday, and they're really soft and cuddly. But the main thing they've got going for them is they're not all *CUTE*.
Each Ugly Doll is born with its own personality sketch, which is about as helpful as a Chinese restaurant menu horoscope in deciding which dolls go together. Guess we'll all have to wait for the cartoon to see how they get along.
Ugly Dolls are exactly what some megatoycorporation could not make, but would like to exploit now that they're a hit. They were created by David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim in 2002, a couple of Parsons design school grads, who sewed them all, by hand, for the first year-plus. [Read an interview with them.]
Zakka, a jap-pop comic store in SoHo, was the first store in NYC to stock Ugly Dolls, and they still sell them online for $19.
I was all over this when my kid was born. I wanted him to have a doll that was totally cool and completely different from every other kid's doll. Unfortunately, he never really responded to it, and still prefers dolls shaped like cats and dogs.
We've also got one of those Ugly Dolls. And as in the above comment, Trixie isn't nearly as interested in it as I am. The other stuffed animals I've been thinking about are the giant microbes (http://www.giantmicrobes.com). I don't have any yet, but I like the idea of her dragging ebola around the house.
I bought the same bobo ugly doll. While I was pregnant. I was really drawn to it by it's "ugliness". For some reason I thought my unborn child might like it one day. He's now 1 month so I haven't shown it to him yet. I can't wait though.
Hey! My daughter is now 3 1/2 and she just loves those "Ugly Dolls"! We have completed her collection by getting the new doll, Minus.