The world of one-of-a-kind (OOAK) dolls is a specialist’s universe catered to by artisans like the Kiev-based Olga Kamenetskaya (@oli.krolik), who seem to blend craft with magic, so realistic and detailed are their creations. “Some people are scared by the realism of my dolls; they find them terrifying. Others, on the contrary, admire such aesthetics,” says Kamenetskaya, who believes that her work is distinguished from that of “other masters” by its “humanity.”
In common with her contemporaries, Kamenetskaya does custom work, though her most referenced starting points are Ever After High and Monster High dolls, as well as the bombshell Barbie, the golden grail of her youth. “My family was not rich, so our parents bought the first Barbie for me and my sister only when I was 9. We both adored her!” Though she longed to expand her collection to include Mermaid Barbie, this was out of reach. By high school, Kamenetskaya’s interests had transferred from dolls to fashion. Taught to sew by her seamstress mother, she delighted in dressing up. “I was not afraid to stand out. On the contrary, I liked it, so sometimes my image was very eccentric.” Kamenetskaya’s desire to stand out from the crowd might explain her attraction to Mattel’s Monster High dolls (think Barbie’s mall-rat cousin), which she started collecting as an adult. Kamenetskaya was inspired to redraw one, she kept at it, and, in 2012, a hobby turned into a profession.
The doll-maker is connected with the collecting community through social media channels managed by her husband, who she credits with helping her to become a master. “I didn’t believe in myself the way he [believed in me],” explains Kamenetskaya. “I’m never 100 percent satisfied with my work; I always think that it’s possible to do better with each new doll.” In her bid to improve and grow, the artist took beauty courses and now moonlights as a makeup artist. Interestingly, despite the artifice of the fantastical doll-making profession, for her personal projects, Kamenetskaya says she often chooses to keep things natural, relatively speaking, anyway. “I don’t like when the new face of the doll is ideal and perfectly symmetrical, it makes it lifeless,” she explains. “I always deliberately leave some flaw that may not be noticeable to everyone, but [gives] the doll invisible charisma. Perhaps, this flawed beauty is the message that my dolls carry.”
