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“There are more dolls out there which I would like to make than what I can actually produce and I have been constantly competing with time. I get easily inspired and even the simplest thing might turn into a muse for me. I love all my dolls with all of my heart. If I see one of them as the most beautiful for the moment, the next one should be even better,” the doll master says.

Maria’s doll projects have brought awards and natural materials are used for the small characters: hand-woven cloth, woolen yarn and cotton lace.

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People feel with no doubt what Maria has put into her dolls as an emotion. Hence the increasing number of orders from all over the world:

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Saying she is a keeper of the Bulgarian spirit, Maria Robeva wishes to herself a long life and health, in order to create many new dolls and to pass her skills on to the next generation:

“I’ve been teaching young children to create toys of woolen fabric. I teach them to sew, but what is more important – I teach them to create. Each kid sees the doll created by its own hands as something different, unique and therefore – priceless. During the process of sewing I usually talk about the Bulgarian traditions and crafts, also about the ritual dolls and the magical creatures of Bulgarian folklore. I would like to make a doll for each folklore region, with the respective traditional clothing. For the moment I only have a Rhodope and a Thracian girl dolls. Dreams do not come true by themselves – one has to follow them persistently, day by day and despite it all. I never stop dreaming and work every day, in order for the miracle to happen.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev