About Bamboletta - Handmade Dolls
t is truly a magical gift to experience, create and share such kinship with children. That feeling, of a doll becoming a child's trusted confidant, faithful traveling companion, the keeper of secrets and the witness to adventures, is what started Bamboletta in 2003 and what keeps us going twenty three years later.
It started simply. I was looking for the perfect doll for a family member's new baby. I wanted something real and natural that would last a lifetime. I couldn't find It and so I made it.
Armed with a book I found on eBay, in German (which required a friend to translate), I cut up my then husband's t-shirt for doll skin, clipped down my IKEA sheepskin rug for stuffing, and made my first doll.
I remember my breath going shallow as she came together. I worked into the wee hours until she was done. When I held her, something ignited that has never gone out.
Her name is Lillian and she still sits on the windowsill in our studio today.
What Makes a Bamboletta Worth Keeping Forever
These are not toys that end up in a donation bin.
Every Bamboletta is made from natural, ethical materials sourced locally as much as possible, real Albertan wool stuffing, hand dyed and hand spun raw yarns, cotton fabrics. Wool is antibacterial, warms to the touch, and over time absorbs the smell of home. It gets better with age, just like the memories made with it.
Each doll takes 6 to 10 hours to make by hand. The hair is dyed and sewn on strand by strand. The clothing is stitched together by skilled hands. The tiny felt shoes are 'cobbled' by hand. And every single face is embroidered by me, Christina, personally. It's the part I can't quite let go of!
When those last touches are put on each doll, that is the moment when we see its little spirit. Its personality comes to life and we give the doll a name. When I finish a face I smile at her and say "you're here."
There's a line in a book called 'Making Waldorf Dolls' that stopped me in my tracks the first time I read it:
"A handmade doll absorbs the spirit of the maker in its stitches and the love of the child in its heart."
That is exactly what a Bamboletta is.
The Village Behind Every Doll
When you hold a Bamboletta, you're holding the work of many hands.
It starts with my parents and my Nonna — who sit together at the kitchen table, usually with Italian TV playing in the background, cutting the tubing that forms the base of every doll's head. Three generations of my family making sure the dolls can be born.
Over in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island is where most our doll making takes place. There's Andrea our yarn dyeing magician, Leola who spins gorgeous handspun yarn, Carol and Sue who knit the tiny sweaters, Alana who makes the heads, Sarah who stuffs them and cobbles the shoes and a whole team of extraordinarily skilled sewing mamas who assemble each doll and sew their clothing with care and love.At the centre of it all is Audrey, my production manager of 17 years and honestly the reason any of this works.
There are now 23 women who work together, each doing their own equally important part. Many of them work from home so they can be with their children and that was always the point. I grew this business one mama at a time, teaching each one a skill, paying her to use it, letting her stay home with her kids, that's what Bamboletta is built on.
A Doll That Does Something
Our process is steeped in traditional Waldorf doll making techniques and we are careful to stay true to those traditions as we evolve.
Our dolls have simple, neutral faces so they can be happy or sad or somewhere in between, whatever a child needs them to be in that moment. They're friends, trusted confidants and faithful travelers alongside a child's imagination and heart. Children work through big feelings in play. These dolls hold steady while they do.
Being a part of creating and sharing such love with so many children and adults all over the world is something we are deeply thankful for. We've watched these dolls carry children through hard things and happy adventures for over twenty years. We've watched grown adults, collectors around the world, find something healing and joyful in them too.
This is the doll you give when you want to give something that lasts. Not just years, a lifetime. Something that might be passed down. Something that will be remembered.
How To Get One
Every Friday at noon PST a new batch of completely one of a kind dolls goes live. Each doll is unique, when she finds her family, she's gone for good. She or he existed only once in the world.
We ship to the United States, Canada and internationally, all orders carefully packed and sent with love from Vancouver, BC.
Come meet our incredible community of collectors in our Facebook group — Bamboletta Dolls Club. It's where the magic happens.
Warmly, Christina and the Bamboletta Ladies
how a bamboletta is made
