Sindy made under license: 2006 Danbury Mint Porcelain (Weekender/Classic) Sindy doll
Scroll further down to see the interview with Anne Zielinski-Old, the designer behind 2006 Danbury Mint Porcelain (Weekender/Classic) Sindy!
The Certificate of Authenticity for one of the 500 porcelain Sindys that were made, kindly shared by designer Anne Zielinski-Old.
Below you can see the photos taken of TLSM’s lovely porcelain Sindy.
Click here to see the photos above enlarged and more of the photos taken of TLSM’s lovely porcelain Sindy!
THE INTERVIEW with Anne Zielinski-Old, the designer behind 2006 Danbury Mint Porcelain (Weekender/Classic) Sindy!
Martina at The Little Sindy Museum (M) interviews Anne Zielinski-Old (AZO)
The Danbury Mint Classic Sindy
30 October 2024
(M) What started the idea of a new Sindy?
(AZO) I had been in contact with the CEO of Cameo Guild Inc, a resource for prototyping, and manufacturing in the collectible and memorabilia industries with a track record in dolls. The CEO, Chuck Harley had challenged me to identify a nostalgic doll that could be re issued as a viable re-imagined brand. However, the idea for a new Classic Sindy sprung from my immersion in the fashion doll industry from entering Mattel, Inc’s Specialty Doll Division to my role as Director Special Projects, Fashion Doll Quarterly Magazine that brought me into contact with Jason Wu’s Fashion Royalty and Ru Paul collections, Mel Odom’s Gene doll, Madame Alexander’s collectibles and further independent designers. The explosive rival to Barbie at the time was Carter Bryant’s Bratz dolls manufactured by MGA Entertainment.
I was looking for a 3rd option to challenge the Barbie/Bratz spark and saw the potential to resurrect, in distinct contrast, the rivalry between the sweetness of British Sindy and ‘all-American’ Barbie. It was my daughter who found a rather lovely dark haired Sindy doll at the Kensington doll show in London. The head sculpt on this single doll was delightful [vinyl doll’s vary in production] I saw the value in that stark contrast, providing for an excluded demographic and a relevant platform for sixties imagery.
(M) Was there a special occasion where she would be sold/that she was made for?
(AZO) The new Classic Sindy brand was to come about on the crest of the wave of hunger for quality and collectible fashion dolls as was gaining momentum from the mid-nineties.
Weekender wasn’t intended as a one-off commemorative doll, or a faithful reproduction of the original. The intention was for a new brand, to be ring fenced from the Pedigree’s Sindy play dolls, then being Denise Deane’s 100% Design for Woolworths. The time was right to bring a revisionist Classic Sindy to market. The start-point, or spring board, was the synthesizing of the very best of early, pre-Hasbro Sindy. There is in-fact quite an archive of originals of development work behind the single Danbury Mint release I’ve preserved. The idea was expressed as “The product would be described as “Classic” and in fact not to be identified as collectible. It had been established the Sindy collector market is large enough to allow the brand to create it’s own dynamic as a collectible without the need to limit production numbers”. There was initially quite a lot of discussion about the new brand’s name. The starting point was “Vintage Sindy” but moved on from there for various reasons to “Sindy Classic” and finally settled on “Classic Sindy”.
The brand description was to be, “More fabulous than ever, revisionist Sindy is the ultimate British Mod fashion doll. With her sweet face, wholesome ways, the quintessential girl next door, she embodies the beat of the swinging 60s, The Beatles, Twiggy, Mary Quant, Carnaby Street, the World Cup, in other words all the good times for “GB”. (Great Britain)
“Patric Old whose doll paintings and photography are internationally exhibited and published in Fashion Doll Quarterly magazine, came on board as graphic designer and photographer to create the ultimate cinematic swinging 60’s image for the revisionist Classic Sindy Doll”
I coined a new set of slogans beyond: The doll you Love to Dress”, such as “That Gorgeous Face!” “That Super Face!” “She’s lovely” in recognition of the special head sculpt, and “Probably the most loved doll ever”, “Probably the most loved ballerina doll ever”, “be Bright, be Beautiful, be Sindy”, “For the Sindy Girl in You” “A little Plump with a Spring in her Step” and quite simply, summing up “1963”.
(M) What did your work process look like?
(AZO) Starting with that lovely dark-haired specimen my daughter had uncovered, I went on to create design drawings, process fabric sampling, write hundreds of long-distance instructions beginning with the sculptor, drafting specific flat get-up designs, many revisions and corrections.
My late husband came on board, producing a collection of experimental photography and graphic identity proposals to build the brand. There was also the matter of building on Sindy’s character for the contemporary adult market, The Sindy Girls. All the time driving a wide circle around Sindy’s competitors’ output.
(M) Did you have any special requirements to consider?
(AZO) Bringing Classic Sindy in line with the craftsmanship of leading collectible dolls required a lot of experience, new materials, endless tweaking, experimentation of hard and soft elements while highlighting the essence of what was most loved in Sindy. There was no existing tooling for the head and body for this doll, so while the head was digitally scanned by a specialist company based in Japan, I started from scratch by instructing the sculptor long distance to aim to achieve a perfect reproduction of the sample doll. This took some effort in itself and challenged by the technical issues when translating vinyl into porcelain.
When this was somewhat achieved, I then set about bringing my own additions to the body. I wanted the doll, that was to be manufactured in inanimate material to nevertheless suggest a fleshy, delicate, animated feel, a little plump with a spring in her step. I set about instructing shaving off areas and adding here and there, until it hit the mark I was looking for, achieving the suggestion of a little short waisted, curvy sweetness, brimming with joy and energy.
(M) Did you have any mood board or inspiration pictures?
(AZO) Yes, mood boards are the first stage in putting together a pitch, so yes, very much so. They remain as the anchor throughout a development. My greatest inspiration for Classic Sindy were my own memories of the Sussex Mod scene. I was just at that age when I couldn’t wait to be a teenager and wear those mod styles, hence absorbing every detail. I brought the Weekender get-up in line with the actual human styling of the period as opposed to doll’s get-ups. This in turn made demands on aspects of the sculpting.
(M) Did you do any sketches of Sindy and/or her outfit?
(AZO) The first phase of the rollout was to issue 4 porcelain dolls. Here, I’ve provided the design drawings for each of these. Premiere, Weekender, Fur Fashion and Dream Date. At the time, further revisionist dolls I had next envisaged moving on to were Ballerina and Equestrian Sindy, her pony and accessories and a stylish graphic merchandising campaign.
(M) Were there any problems during the design that made you have to start over?
(AZO) Absolutely there were! The launch doll in the series, as requested by the distributors, The Danbury Mint who had taken over the license, had requested development to counter sample Sindy in an evening gown. I opted to redesign from scratch the ‘Premiere’. Then, with that achieved, wig, gown and face paint resolved, and given the approval to be put into production, The Danbury Mint with Pedigree changed their minds and decided Weekender would be the launch doll. This mattered as the sensibility and practicalities of Sindy’s body were created for the Premiere get-up. Not only were the hands having to be knocked back, having been created for finely tuned painted on gloves, as opposed to added mittens, it was the feet in particular that were crafted to take a heeled shoe. Then, another issue. This meant the magic of the realistic design of the white canvas laced up flat plimsole became a problem. There was no time to start over by creating new legs for the body intended for Premier. While achieving the detail, the shoes didn’t fit and no amount of tweaking resolved this. I’ve used a single thread of cotton to tie the plimsoles in place on my Danbury Mint Classic Sindy. Then there was getting just the right weight and resonance of the fabric of the Premiere dress, in that special colour (a number were made). The hair became an issue. With making her as luxurious as possible, the notion to use mohair for her wigs was experimented with. Now this did not work at all. Sindy was having a bad hair day. Her wig styling cried out for synthetic, shiny, lacquer sprayed appearance, helmet like, true to era bouffant. This worked a treat.
I loved my old English Sheepdog, Ringo II. He was prototyped, finally got there with the correctly lengthened legs. He would have been a great iconic development to be teamed with Weekender.
*Does anybody know where the 6 counter sample dolls are? And Ringo II?
(M) Did you make any prototype of the doll?
(AZO) I designed and directed the creation of the prototypes. There were two designs developed to Counter sample stage, Weekender and Premiere Sindy and of course, Ringo II.
(M) Was Pedigree involved in the design?
(AZO) No, their role was more administrative. As with their licensing agents at the time that came on board the process was more as to whether to grant approvals.
(M) Did you do the packaging design as well?
(AZO) A design for the Classic Sindy packaging had been requested by Cameo Guild Inc. My designs were for a stylish gift box full of graphic references to the era and too, I had found the base of the nostalgic Sindy stand at another show and presented that for reproduction.
No, I did not design the packaging Danbury Mint presented Classic Sindy in. The Danbury Mint had apparently opted for marketing my new version of Classic Sindy Weekender as a one-off limited edition, seemingly commemorate collectible porcelain “reproduction” as opposed to the leap into a revisionist Classic Sindy brand. In addition, I had not designed the Danbury Mint brochure enclosed in the packaging. I had been working with a Sindy brochure from the era, superimposing the new information and images and order forms for first four Sindy’s into the format.
(M) Where was she produced?
(AZO) Classic Sindy was manufactured in China. However, I would have liked to carry the British-ness in the brand though and have her manufactured here in the UK.
(M) How many dolls were made?
(AZO) 500 Porcelain Classic Sindy Weekender dolls were made, all 500 sold.
(M) Where were they sold?
(AZO) Where they could have been sold! The Danbury Mint are a solely mail order, selling off the page company. The test phase territory was limited to the UK. Even German doll collectors who were reporting to me they were trying to invest from Germany but were declined, and also, Target Stores USA were selling high-end collectible fashion dolls at that time. Their UK buying office were preparing to present her to their buyers in US headquarters.
As memorialised by Chuck Harley, CEO Cameo Guild, following my numerous reports of meetings with Hamleys, in correspondence to The Danbury Mint there was to be another and really quite sensational development. With the Classic Sindy launch, Hamleys, London’s iconic, historic toy emporium, June 2006, had entered into negotiations having recently been purchased by a Danish financial group, and were on a campaign to re-assert themselves as the toy store in the UK. They saw a natural relationship with Classic Sindy. Both were British icons, and both deeply rooted to that era when fashion and design for the world was conjured in Hamleys’ “backyard”, Carnaby Street, Mecca of the 60’s Mod fashions. Hamleys were wanting to be the exclusive UK Classic Sindy retailer at their flagship Regent Street store Christmas 2006 . The company were wanting to schedule their promotion around the beginning of September 2006. The types of programs they were discussing were look alike contests, a Sindy fashion show on Carnaby Street, and Sindy arriving in her red MG Midget, or Vespa scooter to Regent Street. They also suggested contacting collector/enthusiast groups to have original Sindy museum worthy dolls on display. Hamleys’ felt they could get morning and daytime TV coverage, national and regional press and relevant women’s fashion, family, and toy magazines to be interested in her return. “A coordinated program between Hamleys’ PR events in store and on Regent/Carnaby Streets, should benefit MBI’s launch. The program would need a close coordination of calendars, and objectives, but it could be well worth the effort. Properly crafted, the story could be that the Danbury Mint has brought Sindy back to London. Come see her on Regent Street, (but buy her in the convenience of your home). In addition, Hamleys has a data base that could present opportunities.”
(M) How much did they cost each?
(AZO) £99.00-120.00. I have provided the Danbury Mint Ad and brochure Danbury Mint issued with Weekender for those who missed out. (TLSM notes: Shown on top of this site as well)
(M) What is your favourite moment and/or memory of this project?
(AZO) Now, my being invited to share my Classic Sindy world.
In 2013, over two years, in association with Pedigree and Bulldog Licensing, I created a graphic body of work, teaming Sindy with my illustration for the luxury market, now “Luxury Sindy” or “Sindy Deluxe’, [incorporating Classic Sindy] now blossomed into a sought-after young woman with a fabulous life in London.
*Does anybody know where the 6 counter sample dolls are? And Ringo II?
Thank you truly Anne for sharing your amazing story with TLSM!
TLSM’s friend, Bonita, made a special edition for subscriber’s only, about Classic Sindy and Anne Zielinski-Old for Mam’selle Magazine in September 2024.
Copyright Notice:
© 2024 Anne Zielinski-Old, All Rights Reserved.
Permission is hereby granted to The Little Sindy Museum to reproduce the images & text for information purposes only. Must not be used to create the appearance of a licensing agreement. Must not incorporate images (or any part of them) or text into a logo, trademark or adapted in any form without the express agreement with the afore named copyright owner.