Going to China and working with sculptors to design figurines was quite an experience. Visit this page for details and photos"The China Connection"In April of 2007 I traveled to Shenzhen, China on behalf of a company that contacted me
wanting to make figurines based on some of my characters appearing on greeting cards and gift products. I'm also designing new items for product lines that they currently produce.I worked with the sculptors - an extremely talented crew who created clay models based on sketches I did and my direction. These were cast and painted and will hopefully be appearing in retail chains before long. A couple of buyers from major chains placed orders during a small show in Shenzhen while I was there.
What made this even more interesting is the sculptors spoke no English and I don't speak Mandarin. With the help of an interperter who was there sometimes and my handy sketch pad we did pretty well.New items and ideas are in development and we continue to work via emails - I send sketches and descriptions and they send photos of their progress.
It was my first trip to China. The food was great, and the people warm and friendly. An adventure that I will look forward to again when the opportunity arises.
At right is (as said in the photo) me and Helen. She was indispensible and made the whole thing come together the right way. Thanks, Helen.
