Annette Himstedt has been recognized for many years as one of the world’s premier doll designers. Over the past two decades, she has created dolls noted for their realism, their expression, and their exquisite materials. Ms Himstedt draws her inspiration from children she has seen, as well as from the work of Swedish painter and poet Carl Larsson (1853-1939) and the Moravian painter Alfonso Mucha (1860-1939). Her dolls have won numerous awards.

There are 34 dolls and 25 different heads in this years collection and the limbs have all been newly modelled. The faces characters are all very different. What’s very remarkable is the fact that there are hardly any dolls with dark hair.

The hairstyles are true works of art and so closely matched to each face and the clothes that it’s a real delight looking at them. Very unique and much fun are the little plaits that have been added as hairpieces that have been worked into the many other plaits. On first inspection it’s almost impossible to distinguish the grown from the loose plaits. Each of the wigs and each of the hairpieces have differently coloured strands of hair, which give the hairstyle more expression. It is uniquely exciting and never seen before.

The painting this year is exceptional. Each ‘child’ gets golden dots onto their eyelids and lips. The eyebrows comprise four colours that have all been carefully matched, one of which is gold. In addition to that there’s a mother of pearl shimmer on the facial skin.

The clothes – with a total use of approximately 120,000m/ 130,000 yds of tulle and approximately 15,000m / 16,500 yds of netting for the entire collection- are just as unique as everything else. Each dress is so sumptious and still has so many fun details. All the dresses feature tulle but not a single one is boring because of it. Each doll is wearing a long pair of trousers, which is layered with tulle. The seams feature hand-crocheted lace, which has been hand-dyed in the manufactory. Over that each girl is wearing a tulle under garment, which itself is layered with a floral tulle. On top of that they wear the tulle top dress, and finally the camisole. The sleeves are loose and tied to the dress with floral tulle ribbons. All the sleeves on all the dresses are covered by tulle frills.

In addition most dresses feature flower tendrils and bouquets that are worked into the tulle skirt. All the dolls have a net with hand painted shells, that can be attached (except Princess Mera’s) by using tulle ribbons on the skirts.

Annette Himstedt’s Kinder dolls are issued in limited editions ranging from 277 to 713 pieces.

Each doll is truly a treasure that you will be happy to pass down from generation to generation.