In the Doll World Podcast

There is an exciting new podcast devoted to those who live "In the Doll World" -- artists, collectors, and other doll enthusiasts.  Hosted by Georgette Taylor (former vice-president and co-founder of Big Beautiful Dolls, Inc.) and Tammy (teej) Fisher (owner of Curiositeej Dolls & Collectibles), In the Doll World offers a series of informative podcast interviews for your listening pleasure.

Visit and listen to the current podcasts.

Subscribe to be informed of future podcasts using the subscribe tab at the site.

Offer suggestions on others you would like to have them interview using their email links on the home page of their site.

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There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
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Need a Dasia?

Big Beautiful Doll Dasia

Many have expressed interest in owning a Big Beautiful Doll Dasia.  I asked Georgette Taylor, one of the creators of the doll line, if additional dolls were available.  She only has nude dolls like the one I purchased from her in July for my Maya Angelou doll project and as seen on the left.  

Georgette invited me to have those interested in purchasing one of the nude dolls to contact her directly.  Her email address is:  georgettet@hotmail.com.

She only has the nude dolls, no clothing or shoes.  The cost is $25 + $8 shipping to anyone in the US.  International shipping is higher based on location.   

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Guest Blogger, Georgette Taylor, Shares Exciting News

A new feature of the Black Doll Collecting blog is to allow doll makers, artists, and others in the doll community with pertinent Black-doll information to share to become guest bloggers*.   In today's post, I am honored to present the first guest blogger.  

Audrey Bell-Kearney and Georgette Taylor with their Big Beautiful Dolls:  Dasia, Dawn, and Dena

Introduction

Hello Everyone!  First I want to thank Debbie Garrett for allowing me to guest blog on her wonderful Black Doll Collecting blog this week.

Many of you may know me already, but for some I may be new to you.  So here is a brief introduction about who I am.

My name is Georgette Taylor.  I am one of the co-founders of Big Beautiful Dolls along with Audrey Bell-Kearney.  Our company introduced the first line of full-figured fashions dolls over 15 years ago.  Wow, I cannot believe it has been that long and I cannot believe it has been over 6 years since I have written anything related to dolls. Our dolls were Dasia, Dawn, and Dena.  Dasia was nominated for the 2002 Dolls Award of Excellence and we have been featured in several doll magazines.

I also want to thank everyone out there who owns one of our Big Beautiful Dolls and who has supported our company and our dolls. We hope you have enjoyed them as much as we have enjoyed creating and showcasing them.  

Our dolls still inspire me to this day and it was one of the reasons I reached out to Debbie recently to share with her something I am now doing that I thought would be helpful to the doll community.  Being asked to be a guest blogger could not have come at a better time to share with you a little about where we originated, where we are going, who helped us in the beginning and what we are doing for the doll community that we hope will be another way for you to branch out and share what you love about dolls.

Although I have been out of the game for a while, I still manage to check up on things. I see Jason Wu wowing us with his meticulous and marvelous creations; Percy Newsum for his continued drive and creativity with Integrity Toys; and Robert Tonner is always doing an amazing job with his fashion dolls.  There are many other talented designers and doll makers that I have yet to discover. I absolutely just love it.

How It All Began

Speaking of Percy Newsum, I want to share with you something that you may not know about Mr. Newsum and Big Beautiful Dolls. Mr. Newsum was the person who was very instrumental in helping us get started on the right track. When we first started out, we had no clue how to do what it was we were going to do. So I thought I would start by going to Toys R Us to look at all the doll boxes on the shelves to get the names of the manufacturers. We thought we could call on a few to get some information on where to begin. I found a doll that I liked from Integrity Toys and was so excited when I realized that this company was driving distance from where we lived at the time.  So we called a few times and finally were able to talk with Percy.  We asked if we could meet with him and if he could share some insight about the doll business. He was extremely nice and said yes. We spent practically the whole day with him as he showed us his facility, talked with us, guided us and gave us wonderful resources that literally helped to create our line of dolls and doll company. We are deeply indebted to him for taking the time to do that for us.

That is how Audrey and I became connected to the doll business, but I already had and still have to this day a little doll collecting in my soul.

Today’s Fashion Dolls

When I look at the industry today and all the wonderful dolls that are out there, I realize a lot has changed since we started our company, but a lot still remains the same.  Fashion dolls have become so much more articulated.  There are so many more enhanced features and ethnicities, but one thing that has not changed much is the shape or should I say the curves of the dolls. Yes, some are definitely a lot less straight than they were, but there still are not many dolls representing plus size, full-figured women with curves.

After being the first company to introduce the full-figured fashion doll to the market, we were then followed by Robert Tonner's Emme doll, a plus size fashion model.  There is still a lack of other shapes represented in this beautiful arena. We are all beautiful and we all come in different shapes, sizes and colors.  I feel these should all be represented in the doll world.  Variety is what makes dolls so appealing. The thing that I do love and know about the doll business is that it allows you to lend your voice, opinions and express how you feel through the creativity of doll artists all creating dolls that inspire and empower. Our Big Beautiful Dolls represented, and still do today, a voice that is still pretty much silent in the doll world. 

Next on the Agenda and Current Collaboration

We will be introducing our dolls again next year in a Sweet Sixteen Anniversary Limited Edition to celebrate our dolls and company turning 16.  There will be a limited edition of 500 dolls, sold as a set of three.  We are very excited about this as well as some other news shared below.

I have been fortunate again to work with one of my best friends and business partner, Audrey Bell-Kearney, as Chief Content Officer for HerTube.TV, which Audrey founded.  HerTube is an online TV network for women and what women care about.  One of the things we care about is dolls and we want to be another platform for you to express your love for dolls on our network.

We have created the Doll Lovers Channel with shows that will allow the doll community (from business to collecting, from creators to artists) to share information about the dolls they love.  You can host your show and bring your form of creativity, artistry and love for dolls to a wider audience, not just online but in over 8 million households.

If interested, the first thing to do is go to www.hertube.tv  and become a free member of the community.   If you are interested in hosting your show on our network  go to www.hertube.tv  click on the tab "Host Your Own Show" and order the Premium Show Host package or  please contact me by email at:  georgette@hertube.tv directly.

I so enjoyed spending time with you and am so glad I had an opportunity to share with others my love for dolls, a little about what I am doing now, and what we are able to bring to the doll community that we love.

I also look forward to coming back to share more about our upcoming Sweet Sixteen Anniversary Limited Edition Dolls as we get closer to the release date. You can also email me at georgette@hertube.tv  if you are interested in being placed on the order list for a set of three Sweet Sixteen Anniversary Limited Edition Dolls, which will be produced in a quantity of only 500 sets worldwide.

Until next time,

Georgette Taylor

Chief Content Officer

HerTube.TV  

georgette@hertube.tv   

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*If you have pertinent Black-doll information to share and are interested in becoming a guest blogger on the Black Doll Collecting blog, for specifics contact me at

Thanks!

dbg

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Throwback Thursday: Big Beautiful Dolls Dasia

Dasia by Big Beautiful Dolls, Inc., 2000; designed by Audrey Bell and Georgette Taylor, is from the first line of full-figured 12-inch fashion dolls.  The above image is from my first book, The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls.

My memory is fuzzy on how I initially met Georgette Taylor, Vice-President and Co-Founder of Big Beautiful Dolls, Inc., but it is clear that her Dasia doll, shown above, is what brought us together over a dozen years ago.

The text from the image above provides Dasia's attributes. 

Dasia - Big Beautiful Dolls, Inc., 2000, is from the first line of 12in (30.48cm) full-figured fashion dolls created by two AA female entrepreneurs, Audrey Bell and Georgette Taylor.  Dasia wears a black velour evening gown accented by a sheer black nylon wrap trimmed with black marabou feathers; black nylon hose and black faux leather high-heel shoes, iridescent ear studs and matching necklace.  Black rooted hair is styled in an upswept style; painted brown eyes.  Dasia was nominated for the 2002 Dolls Award of Excellence.

Except for complexion, Dawn (Caucasian) and Dena (Latina) share the same head sculpt and body as Dasia -- Photograph courtesy of Georgette Taylor.

Part of a trio, the other dolls in the Big and Beautiful Dolls, Inc. line were Dawn (Caucasian) and Dena (Latina).  As the first full-figured 12-inch dolls, Dasia and companions offered a more realistic representation of most adult females' bodies.  

Silkstone Barbie (right) is giving Dasia some serious side eye. 

After featuring Dasia in the fashion doll chapter of my first book, The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls (2003), Georgette and I participated in or attended doll events at the African American Museum in Dallas and met up again at the Modern Doll Collectors Convention held here in June 2004.   Several years ago, she invited me to do a doll display and discussion at a local library where she was program director.  Photos (low residue from a decade ago) taken at some of these events we attended and/or participated in are shown below:

Georgette Taylor and I were at the African American Museum, March 2004, Dallas, Texas for Tea at Three, "Black Doll History" lecture by Barbara Whiteman, curator Philadelphia Doll Museum

Most of our communication prior to March 2004 had been by email.  Georgette and I met in person for the first time at Barbara Whiteman's "Black Doll History" lecture at the African American Museum on March 18, 2004.  Whiteman conducted a slideshow presentation and also discussed a few physical dolls.  Dasia was one of these.  About Dasia, Whiteman commented, "...this doll broke the stereotypical thin-fashion doll mold and is a better representation of the female population."
 

Georgette Taylor displays her Big Beautiful Dolls at the Sugar 'N Spice Final Fling at the African American Museum, August 28, 2004.

Dasia brought us together again in August 2004 at the Sugar 'N Spice Final Fling at the African American Museum.  This "fling" was the conclusion of a several-month traveling exhibit of dolls from the collection of Regenia Perry, Ph.D., an art historian and African American folk art collector.  Georgette and I both had a doll display prior to a round table discussion that we participated in with Dr. Perry and Commissioner John Wiley Price, who is also a doll collector.  

Closer look at Taylor's display at the AA Museum in August 2004

Round Table Doll Discussion at AA Museum, August  28, 2004, with panel members L-R:  Commissioner John Wiley Price with what he identified as his "Daddy Long Legs doll by Mattel"; me with Ideal's 1951 Saralee, Dr. Regenia Perry, and Georgette Taylor with Dasia.

During the time I was actively exhibiting dolls throughout the city, Dasia usually accompanied me.  She has been featured in my "Evolution of Black Dolls From Mammies to Models" exhibit and in others.

Bell and Taylor's dolls Dasia, Dawn, and Dena made history as the first of a kind in their category and scale.  For additional information about Big Beautiful Dolls, Inc., and more images of Dena and Dawn, read Roville's Blog post dated April 28, 2012.

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My recent reconnection with Georgette Taylor, is what prompted this post.  As a result,Taylor will be featured on this blog soon to share some exciting news.  So please stay tuned!


dbg

Update 12/28/2015
The co-founder of Big Beautiful Dolls, Inc., Georgette Taylor, will bring the head sculpt and full-figure body style the BBDs back to the market under the newly formed company:  I Am Beautiful Doll Company.  The first doll's name is Nikia. For additional information, visit their website.

Georgette Taylor is currently taking preorders for new nude dolls of the original Dasia, Dena, and Dawn.  For more information and/or to preorder, follow the link:
http://iambeautifuldollcompany.weebly.com/nude-dolls-avail.html