As most of Domuya Fans would know, Domuya does not usually make Limited Edition dolls. And when we do, we usually make our dolls based on a storyboard platform. And that is why, we have a dream to create a "Domuya Universe". In which, if you have been following our newsletters, you will know that the Domuya dolls are not just a product, just a figure/statue that you place on the shelves or at one corner of your room. They LIVE, they live in the "Universe" we create for them and they live for you.

And for this year 2009, Domuya has decided to create a series of dolls aside from the Domuya universe. Our dreams have elevated! We want to talk about our Planet Earth. We want to contribute no matter how little it is for our Mother Earth! Our little part from Domuya; yours; his; hers, all added up and you can be surprise that everyone from their little corner on the Earth doing their little part and our Mother Earth would be happy and smiling to us like the bright sun looking down to us every morning!

You may wonder, what caused the spark and what ignited this idea? To be honest, its from the packaging of a soap! Hahaha. Its actually from the free soap (necessity corner) in the bathroom of a hotel when I was traveling. Yes, it is funny, I know. But you see, because when we stay in a hotel, the soap provided nowadays are usually in a bottle, those liquid body soap right? But this hotel provides those solid and by the piece soap. And instead of being wrapped in paper wrapper (even for those hotels that provide solid soap), this hotel has it beautifully wrapped in a paper box made from recycled paper. It is with such a nice wrapper, that caught my attention amongst the norm. So it can be ironic here. Isn't it suppose to be earth-friendly and why such an extravagance on the packaging right? Well, it has double meaning in my personal opinion. First, it has such a beautiful packaging to catch your attention (so it also serves as a good marketing strategy for the hotel service and standards) and then, subconsciously, out of the 2 given in the bathroom for double room, you will only bear to use one and this is where your subconsciousness comes in on the Earth-Friendly message.

I can't speak for everyone here, but at least, this is the message that flashes through my mind at the moment when I was in bathroom and picking up my shampoo, condition and other daily necessities. Shan't go too much into personal details here. Hehe....

Actually, in a hotel room or specifically bathroom, we are  being swam with "Save the Earth" messages. For instance:

(1) Hang your towel back on the rack if you do not wish them to be washed. (If you are staying for multiple days)

Message: Do not waste water. Save the Earth.

(2) Combs are no longer provided, unless specifically requested through room service.

Message: Cos' combs given are usually made of plastic and these are non-recyclable material. Some guests would only use it once and leave it behind at the room to be discarded upon room cleaning.

(3) Solid soap are given instead of liquid soap.

Personal view: I would like to think that solid soap is more "saving" than liquid soap in terms of usage. But for short stay in hotel, the chances of throwing it away (wastage) is higher. But this saves the plastic bottles used to hold the liquid soap, shampoo and conditioner.

Suggestion: I would suggest that hotel use dispenser for these in the bathroom. This can be the best of both world. No wastage, no non-recyclable bottles (I am not sure if the hotels recycle the bottles though). But hotel may have concerns that they might have "ugly" guests that emptied their dispensers and transferred them into their personal storage and bring home? Maybe that's why most hotels provide lower quality cleanser so that you will bring your own for those who are more particular! Haha~~

I am sure there will be more life examples....but I do not want to write an essay on these alone. Hahaha~~~so we can keep the discussion or thoughts on another post.

So to conclude, the spark of this project is from a "SOAP"! 

Thus with this thought, I went back to the company and had a discussion with the R&D Team which is lead by Jacky. Everyone started to get excited about this and ideas and conversations are all flowing around in the room!

Jacky then decided to make a smaller size doll to replace our earlier retired version of D1-42. The exact doll measurement and doll body picture will be available when the product is launched. This doll body designed is different from our "Signature" Flexi Body and Flexi Perennial. Maybe I would discuss this in a different post. Hahaha~~too much things to say to our Domuya Fans. Just let me focus on the Dolls' Life Project for this posting.

So for an insight news or for giving more of an imaginary idea of how our Life Project comes to LIFE, here are the people involved:

Team members are:

(1) Candy as the Spark 

(2) Jacky as the R&D Team Leader

(3) Eage as the Face Sculptor

(4) Wills as the Body Sculptor

(5) Iona as the Faceup Artist

(6) Lisa as the Graphic Designer 

(7) Ray as the Photographer

and of course, many more others as the supporting roles. Maybe some of you professionals out there would like to join our team!

And for even the more curious, the body for Dolls' Life Project and this current line "D1-44" was first worked on in December 2008 and the theme dolls are worked on starting March 2009. So now in June 2009, they are ready to meet all the doll lovers around the world bringing along the humble messages with them!

Our Dolls' Life Project #1 Theme character is - The Drui, a forest keeper. His background can be found on the earlier post "Domuya Life Project - Coming Soon". The heavy deforestation and lack of forest management globally has caused the most widely discussed global warming although these are not the only side effects. For more details, there are some quite well covered facts here: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Deforestation/deforestation_update.php

Thus, in our #1 theme doll to "Save our Planet Earth", we want to bring the awareness to people all around, and we definitely feel that to spread the message within our means, there is no better way to do it in our dolly world because the doll communities are all so united and people are so diverse that the spreading of messages cannot be undermined. 

Drui is telling people that their home is being destroyed and damaged. And humans should cut down on deforestation due to unnecessary agricultural expansion, wood extraction (e.g., logging or wood harvest for domestic fuel or charcoal).While deforestation occurs everyday, we are doing our little part to reforest! That is why, for every doll adopted, you will be planting a dozen of seedlings in Ethiopia as Domuya will be making the donations to The Green World Campaign (http://www.greenworld.org/) on your behalf.

And we hope that these seeds of hope will better the living conditions for people living in Ethopia, for our future generations and our Planet Earth. And may it be that we have planted the seeds of hope in our heart, making us happy everyday!