It’s time again for an interview with an upcoming and very talented OOAK designer. His name is Tsuki Chan (Christanto Juni) and he comes from Indonesia. I first spotted his designs on Flickr and immediately noticed the beauty of his gowns and other creations. He has graciously agreed to talk to me about his life, his designs and his passion for dolls. I hope you’ll enjoy this interview as much as I have.

1. Please tell my readers some things about you.
Firstly at all, I am Tsuki with Original name Christanto Juni, (Yes, I am a boy! Many people thought I was a girl!) from Indonesia. I am a fashion doll dress maker, to doll size 11 “. I always try to make excellent dresses for my dolls. Not easy, but I still able to survive among many dolls dress makers here. I come from an normal family and I began to like Dolls when I was a child, but because of the influence of gender I could not get any until I could buy them myself in high school.

2. How did you discover your passion for couture doll gowns?
Well, I must say this work actually came suddenly, it happens when I had a Barbie doll and I got bored with her dress, always “pink” and something like that. Coincidentally my aunt is a tailor so I decided to make a dress for my doll with her help. Then I slowly learned how to make doll clothes by copying Barbie original dress patterns, kept learning with a little help from my aunt’s patterns, as well as a little help of the internet. Then I realized that this is my passion, a hobby as well as my pleasure, so I continue to make doll clothes to this day.

3. You must have an inspiration, a muse. Who is it?
A person who has inspired me is my mother because she was the first to support me. Yes, there was a lot of opposition in my family (we are mostly boys) and my father was especially angry and embarrassed, but due to my mother’s encouragement, I keep doing what I love.

4. What are your favorite materials that you use for your creations?
My favorite materials for dresses are:
1. For fabrics: I love the Duchess Satin and Shantung, the fabrics are not as difficult as Satin fabric and the other to be sewn. I also enjoy using a variety of fabric lace, brocade and etc.
2. For the embellishment: I always use a variety of mini sequins, seed beads and various Swarovski. You will always see this thing in my dresses.
3. Zippers. For a while now, I prefer to use it because the clothes will look better with them than with the snap.

5. Who are your clients and what makes them buy your creations?
The buyer of my dresses are mostly doll collectors from Indonesia. Until now, my creations are still not available in worldwide shipping. (Sorry for that news ) The things which makes them buy my clothes is my neatness and the way I beaded the dress, most of my costumer were happy with my beading. (I also think I am less creative than others, but Thank God, I still always have client waiting for me.)

6. What is your absolute favorite creation all time? The one you are most proud of.
My all time favorite creation is an evening gown that I made from Robert Best, Pink Tribute Barbie. I thought about the patterns for a whole day but then had some problems in making the actual dress so I had to ride around town looking for an embroidery place to help me because most of them refused me because the dress was too small. Thankfully I found a place that was willing to do help me.

7. Tell me a bit about how you create a look for a doll. Do you start with a sketch?
When I plan to make a dress, I would start to think about the materials and the color, whether it will good and match. Then I think about a doll suitable to wear the creation and what is the suitable hairdo for her. I never really sketch. I just think in my little brain and then draw and scribble. I am not really good at sketching . Then I will start to make the patterns just like making human dresses.

8. What dolls do you usually like to work with and what face and body mold do you prefer for your doll models?
I always loved Barbies and have some plans regarding the Kurhn dolls right now. I like Mackie, Goddess, Lara, Louboutin and Lea facemold because their makeup are usually great for make over and, at this time, I only work with Model Muse body. Hopefully I can work on FR, Silkstones and other 11″ dolls someday.

9. What other doll designers do you admire? 10. As a conclusion: tell you what design you are working on or are planing to work on.
The doll designers I admire are: Ninimomo. Oh God, look at their beading and make over, they are totally amazing OOAK artists. I always love their creations in no matter what, I just LOVE them! They are my inspiration. Other artist I love are Magia2000 for their repaint and Madonna dolls, Artist Creations for their OOAKs and right now starting to love Cho:lo.

10. As a conclusion: tell you what design you are working on or are planing to work on.
I am dreaming about working at Mattel and becoming one of their designer! It will be so nice, I think. Hopefully I can work there. Hahaha. Now, after graduating my school I started to be interested in making human dress. I’ve been learning how to make human clothes and I plan to continue my studies in fashion school so that I could be a both a real life and a doll designer!

I hope, my dear, that all your dreams will come true and I also hope that soon your design will be available world wide. i would love to own one of your creations.