Thai arts and crafts enthusiast has a fresh take on dolls

These rag dolls come in a variety of characters and themes.

Playing with dolls may be child’s play, but making them certainly isn’t. It takes a keen eye for detail and a reverence for the wonder of colours. Prammnee Changthip certainly knows what this is all about – she makes fragrant dolls called Manee Air Refreshener Dolls, which are equally at home hanging in front of air-conditioner vents in cars as they are as door gifts for weddings. In fact, she just completed an order of 300 of these cutesy little things for a wedding reception.

What started out as a part-time affair four months ago has now turned into a growing cottage industry for her, the recent employment of an assistant the clearest indication of her expanding business. “I couldn’t manage to meet the demand, so, I really needed an extra pair of hands,” the 33-year-old Thai reveals in a recent e-mail interview.