Galina Maslennikova

In a two-room apartment in downtown Moscow, Galina Maslennikova assembles cottage industry, hand-crafted components into charming folk dolls. The former computer engineer produces about 250 dolls per month. Galina, a magnetic, 46-year old beauty has bittersweet memories of her grandfather, once the successful owner of a fine cotton textile factory in Noginsk before the revolution, which fuel her own vision of the future.  

When she was a child, Galina attended art school. She developed a love of creativity along with expert sewing skills, and although she made her living as an engineer, she supplemented her income by designing and sewing clothes, and creating dolls. In 1992, after perestroika, Galena’s successful hobby evolved into a business. Galena’s dolls have tremendous personality and Russian flavor, partly because they are detailed with authentic village-made accessories: woolen felt boots ("valenky"), woven wicker baskets from the Ivanova region, painted buckets and balalaika from Abramtsevo, linen from Yaroslav, floral wool shawls from Pavlova Posad, ribbons from Tryechgorka and red wool melton from Kupavna. Galena’s cottage-industry networks of about thirty artisans, most of them women, produce all of these items. And painters and stitches in Moscow help create the dolls' plaster-of-pares heads and traditional peasant costumes. Galena’s finished dolls are enchanting. They could belong in a museum diorama depicting Russian turn-of-the century farm life. Stocky, ruddy-cheeked figures hefting wickerwork baskets or carrying farm tools come alive through their creator's magic skills.