NEVENA

VALKANA

RUJA

My dressed dolls are reproductions of the 19th century antique dolls from Eastern Europe - the lands of present day Bulgaria, parts of Greece, Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey. They are dressed in art replicas of the then traditional celebration costumes. The doll’s jewelry and adornments also are an art adaptation and art replicas of the 19th century ones. The fabric of my dolls’ costumes is a 19th century authentic fabric from which the costumes had been made. It is more than a century old fabric! Each of my dolls is one-of-a-kind doll, a unique doll, whose body is sculpted by me and dressed in an authentic costume. I craft the costumes by hand in much the same way the real traditional costumes and the antique dolls’ costumes had been crafted during the 19th  century. I am happy that my passion for antique dolls and antique costumes is shared by many. My dolls are enjoyed by children and ordinary people and appreciated by doll collectors, doll museums, historians, ethnographers and fashion designers. Many of them have found their new homes in doll collections around the world.No matter how my dolls would be called – antique dolls, collector’s dolls, art dolls, dressed dolls or ethnic dolls, they are a celebration of our common and eternal human desire for a better world as if seen through the eyes of a child.

STOYAN

MARKO

BRATAN

The kuker's celebrations and wearing the ritual costumes and the ritual masks of a kuker are
a bond  with our ancient ancestors and our ancient past and a powerful spiritual journey
to the dawn the ancient European civilizations on these lands.
Kukers celebrations are thousands of years old Thracian
and later also a Bulgarian tradition.

The kuker's ritual represented people’s beliefs that the fearsome kukers
instill fear in the evil spirits and drive them away.
The rumbling sound of the bells reminded and helped the Bulgarians
throughout the centuries to preserve their stamina and courage
and overcome the hardships of their lives