Dolls & Dolls' Houses

Maya Dolls are designed with big inspiration for a young imagination. Each doll is dressed in stylish fashion clothing from casual outfits to glamorous evening gowns.

Uhuru Doll Includes:

Hi, my name is Kiraa, meaning the way, the passage or the voice in different languages in West Africa where I am from. My symbol is the Falcon, born in the zodiac house of Aries.

Includes: (1) 29cm tall (11.5 inch) doll, (1) Africa print dress, (1) head wrap band, (1) pair of blue shoes, (1) pair of blue earrings Original Packaging

The hair is versatile afro-hair style “that can be treated, braided and plaited”.

Every parent loves to see his or her children happy. So do we!

One afternoon my friend and I, accompanied with his 4 year old daughter visited a work colleague who had just given birth to a new born mixed heritage baby.

The 4 year old, who is black commented after seeing the baby that the baby was beautiful and that she wished she had the same light skin colour and hair texture.

Whist reassuring her of her own beauty, inside I was heartbroken by her comments. That night I could not sleep, I was so disturbed by what I heard the little girl had said.

There was no sense in self confidence in own identity of which I and other black adults have felt when we was young. I felt something needed to be done about the girl of today and the woman of tomorrow.

 A role model was needed. The next day as I was thinking what we could do to change this I came up with the idea of creating doll that reflect the different beauty, something that represented black girls, something they could be proud of.

From that moment on I was compelled to do something about it and also grow the opportunity to demonstrate my love and respect to all the little girls I have met and who continue to inspire me to do this.

I describe it as my love, a love you letter to all the black girls in the world you are beautiful and perfect just the way you are.

And so the Nubian Princesses were born 

Mélange dolls represent the vibrancy and the multicultural aspects of children with mixed heritage. They inspire confidence in the child as well as send a positive message to their peers. We believe it is important for a child to have a range of dolls within their collection as it promotes inclusivity, diversity and acceptance.

The dolls are soft to the touch which makes them easy for a child to cradle and cuddle. The dolls have been named after flowers they are: Azalea, Daisymae, Iris and Sorrel. However, the dolls can be renamed.

Mélange dolls are suitable for children aged 3 years old and over. The dolls are made to a very high standard and meet all the UK standards and testing for health and safety and carry the CE mark of safe toys.

Insta: @melangedolls

Beautiful Toys, Dolls and Accessories such as Bags, Totes and Purses lovingly made for, and in the image of our melanated Queens!

Multiple designs available, all made to order. Visit our Etsy store today!

Insta: @ngdolls

Nia Ballerina is a UK based company and we have designed musical jewellery boxes with black ballerinas.  We first launched our music boxes in August 2016, and currently sell our boxes worldwide direct to consumers from our own website. We also have a number of independent retailers located in Europe, the USA and Canada who stock our boxes.

Nia Ballerina is the inspiration of my own daughter, and her absolute love for ballet from the age of before she was even 3 years.  As any mother, I wanted to support my daughter in her passion and began to take an interest in the ballet industry.  It became obvious that ballerinas from diverse backgrounds were and still are hugely underrepresented within the industry.  I felt it was vitally important that my daughter saw images of herself as a ballerina, and one way to achieve this for children is by the toys they play with and books they read. I finally made the decision in the autumn of 2015 that I would begin the process of creating my own music box with a black ballerina.

At the end of November 2017 and after a whole year of design and planning, we were able to launch Nia Ballerina the Character. We have already added the Nia Ballerina Doll and the Nia Ballerina Rucksack to our product range, and are currently working on a series of books about the adventures of Nia Ballerina.

One last thing, the name “Nia” is very close to my heart and is an African name meaning “purpose” in Swahili.  In addition, Kwanzaa is celebrated by people from the African diaspora worldwide between Christmas and the New Year to celebrate African traditional values. There are seven principals of Kwanzaa, and “Nia” which is celebrated on the fifth day of Kwanzaa is one of these principles.

Nia Ballerina is the perfect gift whatever the occasion for any little ballerina!

Bespoke Diverse Dolls

I’m Lisha the needle and thread behind Thimble and Doll. I have been making felt dolls in a range of skin tones for years now. Starting with family and friends as well as in the famous Camden lock market in my own little shop.  Now after starting my own family I am back with a fresh new look but the same great dolls.

As a self taught sewer Alisha made her first dolls for her niece’s because they wanted dolls that looked like them, with skin colour and hairstyles like theirs, but couldn’t find anything similar in shops or online. She wanted to give making dolls a chance so headed to her favourite local market, Camden Lock, fitting in perfectly with its diverse and multicultural offering. Alisha opened Sugacandipop as a pop up shop in the Dingwalls Gallery area, next door to the Lower Market Hall in August 2012. Alisha made her dolls onsite and sold them 7 days a week and, with a lot of  help from her sister and a good friend, the shop soon became part of the tight community of market traders.

Her professional background is in childcare and playwork, specialising in crafts and she has worked with children for 15 years. She has relaunched her diverse doll making business under a new name Thimble & Doll ready for Christmas 2017. The dolls are still designed, drawn, cut and stitched by hand by the lady herself.

In 2012 she started with 5 skin tones but has now doubled this to 10! You can buy a selection of pre made dolls from Alisha’s online shop or make a bespoke order for you own doll. There are currently 4 styles of doll available and different sizes to choose from, with lots of customising options for that really personal touch.

“Diversity is a core value of my business and is important because representation matters. We don’t all look the same, we come in all different colours, so dolls should too!” – Alisha, Founder

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