Paola Zakimi

Captivating is the first word that jumped into my mind when I began to think about Pola’s beautiful handmade dolls, illustrations and paintings. There is a touching ‘knowing’ quality to her girls and young children, they would tell us their stories if they could. Let’s imagine ourselves in Argentina and enjoy spending some time in the company of the amazing Pola.

Tell us a little about yourself, the media you work with and your creative process.

“I live in the middle of Argentina, in a little town full of green with my little daugther and my husband, Cooper and Toto (my dogs) and Juno (my black cat).”

“I love painting as much drawing with ink, watercolors, pencil, acrylics, oil…ok! everything you can imagine. I have been drawing since I was a child so for me it is very natural.”

“Also, I studied Arts Sculpture and I enjoy creating art dolls so much, with papermache or air clay, which is now my favourite medium because it is super fast, clean and you could do anything with this material. My creative process is quite simple, I’m always sketching.”

“I have a lot of notebooks and I use these to keep all the things which cross my mind. About my dolls, I made the first steps with the sketches, then color comes along with the idea and the personality comes when I finish the head and the eyes. I love old fabrics, so delicate and soft, the little embroidery, I always try to use recycled fabric and I dye it myself, with herbs.”

From where do you draw your inspiration: music, books, people, nature etc?

“All you named! My little one is so special, she is a great inpiration when I draw. People too, stories and works, how they look in a photo, eyes… from there I start to think and imagine.”

“I love music but when I work I concentrate so much that I don’t listen. So, maybe I spend all the day with the same record and I didn’t know! Yes, I live in a bubble all day up in the sky!”

If you could talk briefly about the background to one of your pieces which would you choose and why? Please tell us the story behind the piece.

“I have a special love for my last dolls, Elo and the little ones Julia and Carolina. Elo is different to the rest of my dolls and is the start of the new dolls to came, because she is more elaborate in the articulations. The process was diferent because I used Ball jointed parts in the arms and legs, she is not a Ball Jointed doll, but has some elements of BJs. The most important is the hair, usually my girls have painted hair and Elo has sheep hair…real!”

“About Julia and Carolina, they are my first animal girls and I love to make a little doll you could hang on your walls.”

Find Pola in all of these places:
Holli Etsy Shop
Flickr
Blog

Oh, and if you look to the right you will find a direct link to Pola’s wonderful Etsy shop!

Thank you so very much Pola for delighting us with your words, how fantastic it would be to come and join you in your sky-bubble for a little while.

Next week we are going to meet someone whose work inspires incredible devotion, it is fantastical and quite wee! Any guesses?