Rag dolls made by a prominent artist in the Marmaris district of Muğla featuring characteristics of the traditional dress of the local people have gained worldwide renown. The dolls are adorned with shoes, socks and duplicate jewels, making them a collectors” favorite. Hundreds of people from the United States, Croatia, Greece, Germany, Italy, France and Turkey have added Muğla dolls to their collections by paying YTL 130 for one doll. Receiving orders from the United States via the Internet, Dürüst, 40, works day and night to make new dolls, as each takes about four days.
Making her living by painting and making handmade crafts, Dürüst learned how to make ceramic designs in her childhood in Devrim Erbil ceramics workshop, leaded and decorative granular glass, glass fusion, marble glass, jewel design and glass designing in İrfan Yılmaz workshop between 1994 and 1997, and marbling in Peyami Güzel workshop in 2002.
She started to make traditionally dressed Muğla dolls in 2006. Using ceramic for the heads, hands and feet, and pressed cloth material for the body of the dolls, she completed a total of 160 traditional dolls through June 2007. She even named the dolls and prepared identity cards for them. Moreover, she had 160 booklets published in English, German and Turkish in order to inform the customers about the dolls. She began to exhibit the dolls and other handicrafts in her Şiir Art Shop and Cafe, which was opened June 12, 2007. The Muğla dolls, sold for YTL 130, together with a booklet, and attract great attention from foreigners visiting the city.
“I have sold over 200 dolls to customers from U.S., Croatia, Greece, Russia, Germany, Italy, France and Turkey up until now. I am still getting orders on my Web site, www.siirdurustsanatevi.com,” said Dürüst, who added that her handmade doll collection is popular all over the world. “I am so much pleased that the foreign collectors appreciate my handmade dolls, and see them worth being placed among their collections. I believe I contribute to the transmission of our culture to the whole world by means of Muğla dolls,” she added.
Resource: Turkish Daily News
