We are proud to present an interview with puppetry legend Laura Scattolini.

Summer is over

Fans of her work will also be interested to know that Laura has agreed to become a member of the jury for the Gaudir competition in 2023.

Apple Pie

Laura, how long have you been making dolls and how did you get into this business? 

It's hard for me to establish when I was making dolls... as a child I used to make them out of cardboard, then draw dresses which I cut out and put on the dolls. I always loved dolls because of my special life. My father was a musician, my parents and I were always travelling and living in hotels. It was hard for me to have regular friends, my friends were hotel staff... so I always had to have a few dolls. I was a bit like little Eloise at the Plaza Hotel in New York. I started making rag dolls for my daughter somewhere in the 80s and 90s.

Rainy day

Then I started making porcelain dolls from shapes I bought, but I soon got bored because they were always the same. My real birth as a puppet artist was around 1993, when I found out about an important convention calledTeddy Bear & Doll Convention" is held every year at Disney - Orlando - Florida. For a certain sector, one-of-a-kind dolls created in Cernit (polymer resin). I didn't even know what polymer resin was and after endless searches I found this material in Germany.

Good girl

Disney asked me to send in a picture of a head I had created to present it to the jury, which would choose about 10 artists for the 1994 Convention. After endless attempts I managed to make a rather pretty, but above all expressive work called "Melancholia". Thanks to her I was accepted!!! I spent about a year preparing several dolls + one for the auction. I would need a whole book to convey the joy, the emotions and also the fear of this wonderful news. But since then, since 1994, my life as a puppet artist has gone downhill, to full satisfaction. Today I work with CERNIT DOLL.

Summer time

Who did you learn puppetry from?

I learned everything on my own, with great determination and passion. I have no professional training, I am completely self-taught in everything. Maybe this was a good thing because I was not influenced by any outside influence.

Spring flowers

Do you remember your first doll, what it was like?

My first doll was Melancholia for Disney, a melancholy little girl in a little armchair with her head thrown back.

Spring flowers

Why did you choose the dolls?

Because I have never forgotten that they were my companions in my childhood spent in hotels.

What is the most significant compliment you have received in your life?

During my first exhibition in  Disney World In 1994, a gentleman from Miami watched my dolls for a long time and told me before he left that my dolls don't need a name because their eyes express the emotions they feel and what lies behind their eyes, their mind. These words reminded me of Shakespeare's beautiful phrase in Romeo and Juliet, where he writes "She speaks, yet she says nothing. What of that? Her eye discourses; I will answer it."

Lillibeth

Which is more important to you, technicality or expressiveness?

Definitely expressiveness! I don't want a person to remember perfection (which I don't have) on my dolls, but to remember the eyes and for the eyes to convey something.

Do you give lessons, is it possible to become your pupil?

No, I have been asked many times, but I cannot teach for two reasons: firstly, because I have to work in silence, and secondly, because this technique can be learned with the thousands of books that have been written to date, but I cannot teach how to convey emotion...

Roxanne

Do you have any personal craftsmanship secrets to share with readers?

Yes, don't copy other artists if you want to be recognised, get inspired by children, their facial expressions, photos you find on the internet and also the facial expressions of puppies, they are an incredible source of inspiration. I don't have any particular secrets about technique.

If your dolls suddenly stop being bought, will you give it up and find another one, or continue anyway?

No... never! I'll never stop making dolls until life allows me to. I always say that dolls are my life, they have always helped me, gave me an escape from pain in a difficult moment.

Alice and White Rabbit

What is the happiest moment of your life?

The dolls have only given me happy moments, and there are so many of them. That's why I prefer to mention my first exhibition in Disney World. I will never forget.

What is the most important rule that every artist should follow?

I think I've already written that, to work not to be inspired or to try to copy other artists, but so that when a person sees a new doll, they can immediately recognise the artist. As is the case with paintings.

Pinocchio it is me

Do you have a motto or personal rule?

Of course!!! know how to say NO if you've been ordered a doll that you don't like or don't want to create.