This is my story
My name is Aldegonde Ceelen. I am an Amsterdam based doll maker and designer of miniature clothes. My dolls are one of a kind and free-standing - like statuettes. My dolls are made entirely of natural materials.
Education
In my early years I went to art school to become a fashion designer. I ended up doing my finals in book illustration. My preference was children’s books. Subsequently I studied art history and graduated in Italian design of the sixties. After this I raised two children in my studio and became… a happy stay-at-home mom.
Clothes & toys
It all started when my children were little. Dressing up those tiny creatures unleashed my creativity! Designing and making their clothes and their toys is what I still do today. And making children…of cloth material.
What started as an anthroposophical doll became in the end a figurine of a child, a three-dimensional version of my illustrated children.
Facial expressions
Sculpting the head by felting the features, nowadays a quite common practice, is originally my invention. I started years ago to give more definition to the very basial head with only an ’eye line’ and some embroidered stitches to indicate eye and mouth.
Though, as in my illustrations, I don’t strive for explicit realism. My intention is to capture the image of a child; in the posture; the way it holds its head; the arms hanging loosely along the body. Getting the balance and the proportions right, has been an ongoing process of trial and error.
Handmade & natural materials
The materials I use - ecological stockinette for the head and neck and woven cotton for the rest of the body - contribute to the simplicity I desire.
Over the years I collected lots of pieces of fabric with small scale prints and a big variety of colors in woolen yarn. They are the point of departure for designing the miniature clothing,
