A London based mom who created One Dear World – a range of multicultural soft toy dolls, has launched a new crowdfunding campaign to extend the current collection to include six new inclusive disability dolls.
Frustrated by the lack of diversity among the dolls available for their son, Winnie Mak who originates from Hong Kong and her half-French, half-Greek husband Rafael Tselikas took matters into their own hands, and launched the One Dear World brand in 2017, which features four dolls of different ethnicities and genders.
The award-winning dolls proved an overnight success, and now the couple are keen to expand the range with six more dolls representing both visible and non-visible disabilities.
Winnie Mak, founder of One Dear World comments on the new dolls; “It’s always been my long term vision to create dolls to include all kinds of diversity. But I decided to start with cultural diversity, as I was just one person with an idea, sat at my dining room table with limited funds and resources.”
“We believe all children should have dolls that represent them, as well as dolls that look different from them so that they can grow up with a vision of being friends with anyone, regardless of race, gender or disability.”
The new collection of dolls includes a young girl with a prosthetic limb, an autistic boy, a boy with Down Syndrome, dolls with visual and hearing impairment, and a girl experiencing anxiety to help teach children about mental health and wellbeing.
Winnie continues; “UNICEF estimate 150 million children worldwide are growing up with disabilities. We believe these children are entitled to positive representation so that they can develop a secure self-image.”
“Following the launch of my dolls I was approached by so many parents asking me if I would consider creating more inclusive dolls with different disabilities.”
“We’re so excited to be launching this new crowdfunding campaign and believe our new dolls can help all children see the beauty in themselves and in others.”
Each doll comes with an accompanying booklet which gives their name, place of birth and a short story about themselves, including a famous role model who experiences similar condition, and facts and further information on their disability. Winnie’s aim is that the dolls will not only appeal to children as a toy but can be used by parents or educators to start conversations about inclusivity and diversity.
Partnering with Work for Good, Winnie will contribute ten percent of the sales to charities including my AFK, Downright Excellent, Upwards With Downs, Sightsavers, The National Deaf Children’s Society, Autistica and Young Minds.
Should the crowdfunding campaign exceed the planned target for the development of the new dolls, Winnie intends to also invest in creating a theme song and more stories about all the dolls at different stretch goals.
The new dolls were launched on Monday (23 September) and retail from between £24 and £30. Individuals can donate towards the crowdfunding campaign and pre-purchase a doll at www.onedearworld.com/dollsforall until 23 October.