Opulent Syria Heritage Folk Art Doll structure is hand stitched to order in Oregon, afterwards the “body” is shipped to Aida in the Santa Cruz mountains where her face is hand drawn and sometimes embroidered. Hair is braided and matched to lipstick and Brocade selected from Aida’s jacket archive or recycled vintage cocktail frocks when possible. Gown patterns are carefully thought out and drafted by Aida. Cut and hand sewn Doll is then adorned in Syrian embroidery illustrated by Aida and tested out over and over by both Aida then Tulip Kurdi to insure a comfortable needle art experience between the design and volunteers and refugees. Many of the embroidered panels are embroidered by Tulip personally and donated for the cause.

. Embroidery motifs are inspired by select dynasties the Levant and Syria today experienced through the ages or loved Syrian-home nostalgic imagery like the hum of a courtyard Syrian Fountain in afternoon, climbing flowers on Ablaq striped Syrian wall, rose arbors.

Design is a lot of fun as wardrobe and features are matched to hair styles to complement our hand made doll’s personality. Majority of our unfinished dolls are shipped by UPS to Tulip Kurdi in New York where a group of volunteers assemble more dresses and Tulip makes selections for dresses and embroidery pairing, she is keen on eye detail and crazy about their eyebrows but mostly the hair. In the Dolls final destination ( Menlo Park) the collection gets its final detail, a velvet rose, a few inches of woven Roman braid to finish. Coast to Coast we text and email back and forth every day sharing what each of us has sewn or embroidered that particular day. Some of our Syrian Dolls tell us who they are going to be and we don’t fight it. The eyes say it all.