Marmite Sue

Jewel (Amethyst)

Marmite Sue is the nom-de-poupée of Eli Effenberger-Satoh.

Venus

Rose dentelle

The Israeli-born artist originally began in fashion. She attended the prestigious Hogeschool Antwerpen, and was a finalist in the 2005 ITS. In what seemed an overnight change to others in the field, Eli left. While she loved fashion, she knew there would be a great deal of time spent meeting and greeting the public. Fearing she would have trouble with the social aspect of the business, she looked for something that suited both her talent and personality.

Effeberger’s doll suit from ITS 2005.

For my ITS#FOUR collection I created a doll suit that could be worn by a human though remaining a doll in its own right, without the actual need for a body to be beautiful. By doing this I felt extremely free. A doll was a free stand alone canvas for me…

Red Jenny

It was the tension between clothing and body, the silhouette and line that made the final look beautiful. And that was extremely interesting to me….A certain type of beauty could be suggested at times not just by correcting the human silhouette but by exaggerating it and distorting it.

Noi face with carousel body

Teacup Rocaille

Arkenstone

The fantastical lace, filligree, and other sculptural elements are so potent , they can distract from the perfect, delicate detail of the face, hands, and feet.

Hands

Faberge Feet

Now based in Tokyo, Heffenberger-Satoh is constantly evolving, creating new body types. They receive apt names, like AngelEgg, Rocaille, Dentelle, and Carousel.

Cameo, an AngelEgg doll

Cameo close up

Merry Go-Round, a Carousel doll

New Dentelle doll

The Fabergé style is named after Peter Carl Fabergé, an artist she greatly admires. Charlotte is a larger work, with a carousel and music box embedded in her torso.

Charlotte

She works mostly in porcelain, and she and her father have recently developed Moonglass, a shatter-resistant porcelain with a gorgeous, translucent finish.

Moonglass

I was hoping for something that would be as nice and as long lasting as porcelain, but to my incredible delight, we could actually come up with a material that is entirely beautiful in it`s own right.