In the Beginning: Let there be BJD's

Sorry it's taken so long to get another post done, I just haven't had much time to do the research necessary.  So today I got off my butt and put in a little google sweat and found a WONDERFUL livejournal about bjd's.  The address is:  http://bjd-wtf.livejournal.com/309.html


Wood Mannequin

History

I have seen it postulated that bjd's were some manga artists recreation of the wooden mannequin that artists use.  However according to bjd_wtf's research, the actual believed beginning of the resin bjd came from a german artist, Hans Bellmer in the 1930's.  He created wooden ball-jointed dolls that he used in various art forms.  Unfortunately, Den of Angels' thread on the subject has since been moved or deleted.  As a speed bump on the information super highway, I was completely unable to find other considerations as to the original source for the inspiration in creating bjds.

In 1998 Volks, an asian company known for making anime figurines, perhaps inspired by Hans Bellmer's wooden dolls, created the first ball jointed doll for the wife of the president of the company.  Now displayed in the Volks Muesum, this doll was the first of what we consider the modern ball-jointed doll.  In 1999, the first Super Dollfie (Super Doll Figure) Nana was produced.  Shortly thereafter they expanded and added other sculpts besides Nana.  The picture shown is an actual picture of the Nana sculpt from the Volks website and is still available for purchase at http://www.volksusa.com/sd0002.html.  It took several years however for bjd's to take off internationally, as they were only available in Japan or through shopping services.

Custom House was the next company to begin to produce bjds.  Bjds finally reached American shores in 2001 and by 2003 there was an explosion in the Korean market.  Custom House has since changed its name to Ai Dolls

I originaly found bjds in 2003 or 2004 through an online friend who collected them.  I swear at the time there were only two companies to choose from:  Volks and Luts.  However, those who know more about the doll community at the time have convinced me that Custom House was also an option.  (I did mention I am a speedbump on the internet super highway, right?)