Doll restoration is a new trade in China that repairs and preserves childhood memories.

BEIJING, May 18 (TMTPOST) -- As far as one could remember, furry stuffed toys were one of a few things that were never absent from childhood. They accompanied us when we were kids. As we grow up, the dolls were worn out or even broken, and most ended up in the boxes and being forgotten.

One day when we opened the carton box and saw the doll we cuddled to sleep, those precious childhood memories came flooding back. Only then did we realize the love it has carried. And no matter how dated or even broken it is now, our feelings attached have remained unchanged over the years. 

Then a doll surgeon has become a "magician" who brings back our childhood memories. They use skilled sewing techniques to restore the physically damaged or incomplete dolls to their original appearances. While receiving praises from clients, they heal many hearts as well.

In an interview with TMTPost, a doll surgeon shares what her job is like and what the future may hold for the new trade. Lin Hui, who is from Shanghai, has been in the business for eight years. The following is Lin’s account in first person.

Skills and resources required for doll restoration

After graduating from university, I worked in foreign trade, handling imports and exports documents. I was responsible for stuffed toys.

In 2014, my friend's child told me that she had a little bunny doll that she had been keeping for more than ten years. It was already broken. Her mother wanted to throw it away. She was reluctant and asked me if I could make her a replica.

I remembered that she had a deep relationship with the doll and couldn't leave it for a moment, so she couldn't even send the doll to me for repairs. Later, I managed to duplicate doll based on the photos she sent.

After she got the doll, she was very happy. I felt that this could be done as a long-term job. Not before long, I quit my previous job, gradually received more orders for doll repairs and finally entered the industry.

The very first bunny doll Lin Hui repaired. 

The easiest repair work is to sew the hole in a doll. I only need to sew it up with a sewing machine. The manual fee and shipping cost are about RMB20. If there are a lot of holes, it will be slightly more expensive to sew them all together. There are also dolls re-engraved according to the original proportion. I need to re-build a version, and the manual printing cost will be RMB300, plus the cost of fabrics, embroidery, printing and other fees, the total cost will be about RMB600 to RMB700.

Most of the dolls are broken or torn apart after being bitten by pets. Eyes, arms or other parts have fallen off. I decide whether to take an order through assessing how damaged the doll is.

For 10-year or 20-year-old dolls, I suggest not to wash or pull them, because their fabrics are already full of holes and like a sieve. In this case, I often recommend having a heart－shaped object put into the new replica. In this way, the sentiments for the old doll are infused into the new one.

In fact, what I have been emphasizing with clients is that the repair price will definitely exceed the price of the doll itself and thus maybe it is good enough to keep it as it is.

Doll repair is actually a very tedious process. First, you need to draw both design graphic and three-dimensional diagram, then find the factory to make a sample. Next, select the appropriate fabric in the inventory, choosing 2~3 kinds of fabrics to confirm with client. After that, choose the missing nose, eyes and other accessories. When all is set up, we will ask the client to confirm for the last time. If the doll needs to be embroidered, then it has to be sent to an embroidery factory or a printing factory. After the product pieces are returned, we can start sewing.

Because I have been working in the industry for a long time, I have factory resources. And I am familiar with people in the industry too, so it is relatively easy for me to be a doll surgeon.

There are about 5 to 6 people in my studio, including designers and staff who communicate with the toy factory. The money is still good.

Basically, the average income of our team members exceeds RMB10,000 per month. We also undertake some custom doll business. However, because of the Covid outbreak in Shanghai now, clients cannot send dolls to us, nor can we send them back, so we can only take orders first, and there is no way to do it now.

Over the years, I have felt that orders from first-tier cities have increased. I also believe that more and more people will discover the value of old things.

Healed, but sometimes troubled

As a doll surgeon, I meet a lot of clients. There are touching moments, and of course there are also troubling times.

One client impressed me the most. Her mother gave her a doll when she was very young. And the doll was too old to be repaired. I suggested that she consider a replica.

But she felt that it was pointless to do so, and repeatedly communicated the details with me for more than a month. The final solution was to take out the cotton from the old doll's body and use the original fabric to make a heart-shaped object, and put it inside the replica, meaning "always in my heart".

After the client got the doll, she expressed her gratitude to me. In fact, at my work, my biggest motivation comes from the recognition of clients.

I also have difficult clients. A client said he wanted to bring his broken doll to my studio and be involved in the doll restoration process. But repairing a doll requires a lot of steps, and the doll will also be circulated in many places. It is really not convenient for clients to follow the whole process.

There are also some clients who will ask why there are traces of stitching after receiving the restored doll. Even if I share my professional knowledge with my clients and ask them to check, they sometimes don't believe it. I would also like to explain that dolls are always left with a stitching hole so that cotton can be stuffed into the body and then it is stitched with threads, which is unavoidable.

Of course, being a doll surgeon is still very healing. With every order, comes a touching story. The process of doll restoration is also a process of self-enrichment. Whenever I fix it, I feel a strong sense of accomplishment. Only those with a caring heart can do this job well.

Barriers to entry to a nascent market  

Dolls, to some extent, are the spiritual sustenance to their owner, especially in modern society, given that everyone is under a lot of pressure. Having dolls around will also have some positive effects. Doll surgeon help find the missing piece of people's hearts, which is of great value.

Being a doll surgeon looks like a good choice. However, there are not many people working as doll surgeons in the country now. I barely communicate with my peers. I think this trade is relatively more closed, and it is necessary to be cautious when entering the industry.

If you have been in this business for a long time, you will know that it is a very grueling one and requires patience. There are many details that need to be communicated and confirmed with clients, and a sloppy attitude cannot work for this line of work.

Being a good doll surgeon requires experience and expertise.

In addition, being a doll surgeon also requires certain knowledge. For example, when I receive a damaged doll, I need to see what material it is made of and what density of the material is. Small differences can lead to vastly different outcome. I have been doing this for a long time, so I can tell the material at a glance, which takes years of experience.

Also, never assume you will make money by being a doll surgeon in the future, it's still quite difficult at this stage. Of course, I also feel that the order volume is getting bigger and bigger, and the demand will be higher in the future. Yet the industry is still developing.

Finally, if you want to be a good doll surgeon, you need to have sufficient backup resource, such as factories that can assist in completing the repair work, which is extremely important.

The market still lacks order. Many of my clients' dolls were not properly repaired by others, so they were brought to me for repair. I have seen many doll surgeons who have no sewing skills at all.

There are some expensive doll surgeons on the market. I think everyone should keep their eyes open and make a wise choice. The price of repairing a doll should not exceed RMB 1,000, and it is unreasonable no matter how expensive the doll is.

As I have been doing this for a long time, I know what the ex-factory price of a doll is. At least in terms of doll repairs, the cost rarely exceeds RMB 1,000, unless it uses gold and silver threads.

I believe that as the industry becomes more regulated, a doll surgeon will be a promising career in the future. I will continue to serve and live up to the trust of my clients!

(The Chinese version of the article was written by Liu Muzong. The English version is based on the Chinese version.)

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