About workshop

The history of the toy world

The designing studio “The toys by Oksana Yarmolnik.” came into the world on 25th of December 1999. Oksana Yarmolnik is a remarkably talented person, an artist and a designer, who invents all these lovely toys...

The Director of this fabulous fairy-tale factory Irina Nikolayevna Sementsova has been assisting her in developing and producing of all this beauty throughout these years! Some time ago they together started sewing these toys in home conditions. And then a small house business developed into a unique enterprise.

Unique enterprise

The designing studio “The toys by Oksana Yarmolnik.” is the solely enterprise of the kind in the country. It is a complex and genuinely unique production line. Authors design toys by themselves, and replicate them first of all on paper and then in fabric. There is no uniform and approved toy-sewing technology. All the work is performed manually.

To create only one lovely character of their fairy tale Irina Sementsova and Oksana Yarmolnik do a great deal of work. It is not enough to create, make a sketch and pattern drawing... The toy is sewn, then assessed, and then a few things would be altered and refined, assessed again, approved, and this goes on until the invented character becomes perfect. Only then the toy will be put into production, even though this is not as simple as it seems to be, now the craftswomen need to learn sewing with the use of newly created outline frames. And at this stage the sewers of the design studio operate with needles and threads, unstitch and rearrange, sew and alter. And this goes on until ideal is achieved!

How to sew a toy by Oksana Yarmolnik? Art of good humour and skilfulness of hands

As it stands at the moment, there are only 15 craftswomen who are trained to sew toys under the Oksana Yarmolnik brand. They know that the toy needs to be neat, of high quality and good-natured. Any toy is desirable to be sewn in a good mood, as the craftswoman’s state of mind is reflected at her work. It is easy to identify when a person is sad, cheerful, dreaming of something or in love, judging by the toys’ appearance. A person’s state is immediately reflected — on the face of an Angel or of a veiling lamb.

It is hard to find absolutely identical toys. You can find some distinctive features, such as in eyes, smile or head rotation even when you are looking at the toys which are supposed to be the same. This is due to the specifications of handicraft work: they are made by different people and that is why toys turn out to be different. That is where the beauty of these toys comes from. On the other hand, a solid quality guarantee is provided.

Fabrics for the toys production used to be purchased in small pieces to begin with, and now the entire collection has been compiled consisting of environmentally clean cotton and flaxen fabrics mainly domestically produced. Oksana is a very discerning about the selection and quality of fabrics. Here you have cells and stripes and all types of little flowers, velvet. Sometimes it is genuine antique fabrics. And the pile of hand made lace-work.

The atmosphere in the workshop of this fantastic production is inimitable! It is surprisingly peaceful and quiet here and creative energy can almost be felt physically. It is impossible to sew toys and not feel affection towards them. It is not a good idea to work here if you are not fond of it. Those who aren’t like it, don’t stay here for a long time anyway. Good-natured toys and goodhearted attitude to work is the recipe for success.

You can join the team of craftswomen here, but only after a test: a person is given a task to make a toy, and then the result is to be evaluated — whether it turns out to be good or not. The test has been passed? Welcome to our team!

Secrets of Oksana Yarmolnik’s toys

It is hard to see why the toys can be so simple with regard to production technology, with such uncomplicated outline frames, and why is it so difficult to replicate them? One of the secrets is that warm-heartedness is impossible to repeat. At all stages — from an idea to implementation — the toy is as though absorbing human warmth.

It happens that some toys are not good enough, and if so their production stops. The production control is strict!

Angels, Koshki-Myshki (cats and mice) and other characters of the toy fairy tale.

The range of textile characters is constantly changing. Sometimes one model is only sewn in 5 counterparts and then their production stops. On the other hand, some toys are long-term survivors. These include Angels — they have been sewn for around 20 years and there are no plans to stop their production, because the demand for these lovely dolls is extremely high. Svetkas and Pet’kas are also doing well — little ones are produced on the basis of angels, and this is probably what secured their popularity. Frolicsome, amusing and very touching.

The real dog called Prince served as a prototype for a toy poodle. Irina Nikolayevna’s family owned a black poodle with king’s name a while ago. Oksana has invented a poodle for the veiling toy series. It was then named Prince as the toy was similar to a real pet. Today there are not only black “Princes”, but also brown, and white. There is also the Oksana Yarmolnik’s beloved dachshund Angel called Zosya among the dogs.

The collection is so vast, that the studio doesn’t accommodate all the toys. The goods are sold quickly though the company’s warehouse is never empty. One kind of toys replaces the other: the place where the batch of little cats was drowsing a little while ago is taken up with Angels, and then the vacant shelf will be occupied with an army of cute bees.

Fast-moving toy flow doesn’t cease, at the time when some goods are in production the others run out. The popularity of these fabulous goods naturally resulted from the quality: we use natural fabrics (linen, cotton, chintz, calico, cloth, silk and felt) for toys’ manufacture, the stuffing is made of high quality holofiber, and we have all certificates and a complete set of documents proving that the toys are ecologically clean. All the toys of the Oksana Yarmolnik’s design studio are considered intended for interior decoration. However, it became evident from the experience, that kids are easily charmed with fairy-tale creatures and they persuade parents to buy them such a toy.

Toys under the Oksana Yarmolnik’s brand are sewn in only one place and only by hand. Devotees and collectors! Be aware! The genuine toys from Oksana Yarmolnik are made only in Russia and only in one locality, though some handymen from the capital and other towns and cities of our vast country are trying to make and sell copies. The original toys have a paper label attached containing good wishes from Oksana Yarmolnik and the company logo.

It is tempting to touch, stroke and hug these toys... And this is all because the creators have a goal — toys should bring joy to adults and children.