It's
utterly astounding how the most amazing things come to fruition from
the simplest of ideas. The Wizard of Oz originally grew from
stories L. Frank Baum spun for neighborhood children. The inception
of Uglydoll began in a love letter.
David
Horvath and Sun-Min Kim met while attending the Parsons School of
Design in New York City. Sun-Min returned to her home country of
Korea in the fall of 2001 and David to Los Angeles, California. The
separation did nothing to dampen their dreams and they cultivated
their relationship through correspondence. Absence not only made
their hearts grow fonder, it ignited creative sparks. David signed
his letters with an illustrations of an odd little orange character
he called Wage. Sun-Min surprised David with a hand made plush Wage
for Christmas.
David
proudly showed his new critter to a friend who owned the pop culture
toy shop Giant Robot. The friend was so enamored with Wage, he
wanted to sell some in his shop. Within two weeks, Sun-Min completed
20 more. David dropped them off at Giant Robot one morning and
returned home that evening to an email requesting more. The entire
batch sold out that day!
Over
the next 18 months, Sun-Min sewed 1,500 Uglydolls based on the
inhabitants of David's "uglyverse". Product was moving
faster than her hands could keep up so changes had to be made.
In
January of 2003, Sun-Min returned to the United States to marry David
and expand the "uglyverse". They unleashed the Uglydolls
at Toy Fair and Uglydoll mania ensued.
Uglydoll
started as a modest little plush, but now there are books, figurines,
partyware, kitchen items, decor, clothing......Uglydoll can be found
in just about every medium imaginable. Hollywood better brace
itself. There's even a feature film in the works.
Over
the past couple of years, Uglydoll has engaged in fun co-branded
partnerships with Hello Kitty, the rock band KISS, Universal
Monsters, DC Comics, and Start Trek. Just released is Uglydoll's
homage to The Wizard of Oz.
The
appeal of Uglydoll is very much the same as The Wizard of Oz.
Misfits are able to embrace their own eccentricities and work with
the quirks of others for a greater good. The philosophies of the
"uglyverse" are ugly means unique, ugly means different,
ugly is BEAUTIFUL! Keeping those themes in mind, The Wizard of Oz and
Uglydoll lend themselves very well.
The
Wizard of Oz Uglydolls are arriving in stores now. Get in touch with
your inner ugly and let's go over the rainbow!!
Research
links:
One-on-One:
Uglydoll's Chief Ugly Alita Friedman
The
David Horvath interview by Ploom2
Ugly
Toys, Cute Story
How
to Build an Empire
Ugly
Dolls were a labor of love
A
love letter Begets Dolls
Uglydoll
Wikipedia
Uglydoll
Wizard of Oz press release
Ugly Doll Photos Courtesy Ugly Doll
Graphics created exclusively for The Curiozity Corner by Mat Wallis
