Wooden Dolls by Sarah K

Wooden Dolls by Sarah K - photo by Andy Lewis (I like the guy on the far right - so cute!)

I'm a big fan of Sydney designer / curator and all round creative do-er Sarah King, or, as she prefers to be known - Sarah K!

Sarah K's most amazing attribute is her incredible drive and sheer get-up-and-go!  No matter how mad or far-fetched her ideas, she just gets things done. She's bascally immune to discouragement.  If Sarah K can dream it up, Sarah K can make it happen!

Sarah works alongside her husband Ben designing unique furniture and quirky functional and decorative objects for the home, under the name Blakebrough + King.  You might recall she's also one half of Supercyclers, alongside fellow design superstar Liane Rossler!

ALSO Sarah K is responsible for pulling together 'The Other Hemisphere' - a unique exhibition which has travelled to the world's biggest design festival, the Milan Furniture Fair, for the past two years running. This project alone is such a seriously extraordinary feat which Sarah has pulled off pretty much single handedly now for two years in a row!  It really is a testament to her incredible drive and passion for positioning Australian design on the world stage.

Sarah K's latest project is much smaller in scale and a little closer to her own heart - a sweet range of wooden dolls, handcrafted in NSW from solid timber offcuts.

This purely decorative range is inspired by mid-century designer's dolls, which Sarah K has always had a passion for. 'The puppets Paul Klee made for his son are especially great' she says.  Of course Alexander Girard's beautiful wooden dolls are also well known, but Sarah says many avant garde architects and artists like Sophie Taeuber Arp and Hannah Hoch also made beautiful toys and dolls.

'I have been working with a clever local woodturner on some of our recent products, and I was inspired to make an oversized chess set after seeing piles of table legs in the workshop.  My wooden dolls are loosely based on chess characters for their form - I think it's obvious which one is the bishop but you'll have to guess about the others!' says Sarah.

Sarah K's Wooden Dolls launched last week at DesignEx in Sydney, and will be available in select retailers soon (a few lovely shops ordered them last week!). Until then they can be purchased directly from Sarah, at $120 each or $560 for the full set of five.