Wednesday, September 17, 2014

A doll with an Edge by Lisa Ramsammy and Integrity Toys

Almost a year ago, back in October 2013, the Official Integrity Toys Advanced Design competition took place at the "Premiere" Convention in Los Angeles, California. According to the competition rules, the winning design, personally picked by Jason Wu and the rest of the Integrity Toys design team members, has been made into a production doll and W Club members get to pre-order her starting today. The new doll based on Lisa Ramsammy's winning entry, "Edge" is none other than Vanessa Perrin. Lisa had dressed a Vanessa 1.0 for the competition but Integrity picked her latest incarnation, 3.0, to use for this offer. Below is the original doll by Lisa (photo by JennFL).


In an unparalleled move by Integrity Toys, every Club member is guaranteed the right to pre-order as many dolls as they want. The total edition size will be based on how many pre-orders are received.


Item # 91354
Edge
Vanessa Perrin Dressed Doll
The Fashion Royalty Collection
2013 Design Competition Award Doll by Lisa Ramsammy
Edition Size: TBA (Based on all orders received)
Suggested Retail Price: $150 public/$135 W Club Members (+ Shipping and tax if applicable)
Estimated Delivery Date: Approximately Late Fall/Early Winter 2014


Doll Tech-Specs:
Head Sculpt: Vanessa 3.0
Body: FR 2013
Skin Tone: FR White
Quickswitch Feature: No
Eyelashes: Yes, Hand-applied
Hair Color: Luscious Blond


Dressed in a creation by doll artist Lisa Ramsammy of Canada, Vanessa Perrin is a 12.5-inch fully articulated vinyl doll with fully rooted hair and hand-applied eyelashes. The doll comes dressed in Lisa's ultra-modern creation and is completed by earrings, bracelet, bag and shoes. A doll stand is also included. For adult collectors ages 15 and up.



The doll is already available to W Club members for pre-order at a special price and will be also available to the general public soon. For me, she is an outstanding doll. She looks like a modernized, updated version of Poesie Sans Couleur Vanessa; she is stunning with her silver hair and pale make up. Lisa's design is minimal with an edge. It could easily work as a real fashion too.


Update: The doll will come with extra painted glove hands:


A few words about the designer, Lisa Ramsammy:

Never formally trained in the art of sewing or fashion design, Lisa learned to use her basic skills to hand and machine sew her competition entries and its really draping fabrics on the doll, pinning and tacking things by hand that allows her to get her desired results. Born in the Caribbean, Lisa has been a doll fan since childhood and finally obtained her first doll when her family immigrated to Canada. One of Lisa's favourite past times growing up was stitching outfits for her dolls using bits and pieces of fabric she could find! Fast forward nearly 20 years later, married with a family of three boys and not sure if she would ever have a daughter, Lisa started collecting various vintage and modern fashion dolls in hopes that she could one day pass her gorgeous collection onto a daughter or granddaughter... Then, along came Integrity Toys' Fashion Royalty line and the rest is history!


Lisa has been actively painting portraits of people and thoroughbred racehorses for many years until she stumbled into the repaint world of dolls in 2004. She was fascinated and decided to try her art on such a small scale. She's been fine tuning her skills ever since. She mainly sells repainted dolls on eBay. Lisa has entered annually at each Integrity Toys design competition thus far because she loves doing it and feels it is important to participate even if you think you can't win. In Lisa's words: "The expression of pride on my Mom's face was priceless when I won; she's supported me through life's ups and downs and every convention thus far; it's a great feeling making your parents proud while doing what you love!" "Never say "I can't". The whole idea is to have fun doing it. It was a complete shock and thrill and a great honour to have been chosen as the 2013 Advanced Design winner and I am humbly grateful."

Lisa has entered and won multiple times at the various design competitions held each year at the Integrity Toys convention. Here's an highlight of Lisa's previous wins:

2004 -2nd Place Judges' Choice Advanced Category
2006 -1st Place Judges' and People's Choice Winner Advanced Categories
2007 -1st Place Judges' and People's Choice Winner Advanced Categories
2008 -1st Place Judges' and People's Choice Winner Male and Female Advanced Categories
2010 -2nd Place Judges' Choice Poppy Design Category
2011 -1st Place Judges' Choice Hair Design Category

What Lisa Says About Her Creation "I simply named this creation "Edge" as I was trying for an edgier look, something modern in design. I decided on simplicity rather than pomp and pageantry, something that would stand out and be different than the other entries."

**Please note: Integrity pre-production prototype shown; actual product may vary slightly. All photos and information contained herein is copyrighted Integrity Toys, Inc. and Intercap Merchant Partners, LLC 2014 and may not be reprinted or disseminated without express written permission.**

2 comments:

  1. Reading stories in which "normal" (whatever that is) people win competitions and then see their designs in production are heart warming. The dress is different enough to be interesting, and I do like the hair. If this is the same sculpt as the Black Orchid Vanessa, there is something about the mouth that I find off-putting (I place her in the back of a group). The lipstick color is softer here, though, so it isn't as pronounced.

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  2. I kind of like this doll - although a friend tried to talk me out of it today. She said that she, herself, was put off by the fact that we could order as many as we wanted. It didn't feel that special to her. I still like the Hip Harness thing. I agree about the mouth. In the end - I'll probably pass.

    Always love to visit your Blog.

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