A couple of weeks ago I had the absolute pleasure of meeting Davorka, a very lovely lady and the creative behind Tilly2Milly. I have followed Tilly2Milly on Instagram for a very long time now and love the adventures of Davorka’s dolls. They are pretty well travelled I have to say!
But more than that I am drawn to their wide eyed expressions and charm, they remind me of childhood in a grown up sort of way. Do I make sense? I find the dolls appealing. When we met in London I also had the pleasure of ‘meeting’ the dolls. What can I say, I love them even more now we have been introduced!
I asked Davorka to share their story, here is what she says…
“I started making paper dolls as a little experiment about 5 year ago and it organically developed from there. I find it fascinating that from recycling box content you can create characters that express emotions and different feelings. I work with children and their work is huge influence. As a little reminder all of my dolls have rosy cheeks and that is a reference to those first paintings children make. There is also a list of artists that I use as inspiration, Amadeo Modigliani , Yoshitomo Nara , Alberto Giacometti to nene just a few.
I find outfits in magazines and this process gives me opportunity to chose all those gorgeous dresses that doubt I will ever be able to afford. The whole process takes time and I hardly ever finish with the doll that I originally imagined . Instead I go with the flow and see where it takes me.
Since I started using Instagram my work moved to crating settings and taking dolls on my travels and photographing them on different locations. Instagram was great source of inspiration and encouragement. I find it so moving that they remind people of childhood and comments about their expressions.
My husband and son have this thing that whether I am making dolls or photographing them say “mum is playing”. I guess I am and I am really enjoying it.”
We strolled around Brick Lane, we chatted and found backgrounds to photograph. Including this amazing house in Princelet Street, Spitalfields, which has popped up in my Instagram feed so many times! Unfortunately the shutters were closed when we were there as I would have loved to have a peek inside, Davorka mentioned that it is used often for filming and such and is pretty much kept as it would originally have been. That said it still makes the perfect backdrop for Davorka’s dolls don’t you think?
You can follow Davorka’s dolls and their adventures on Instagram where she posts as @tilly2milly, my favourite recently is a teeny tiny doll posted this week, as small as the blossom hat she wears.
Julia x
P..S. An update, I have since take one of Davorka's dolls to Venice with me. I think the backdrop of Burano suits her perfectly!...
