Real Life Barbie Creator Starts Fundraiser: Male Artist's Dolls Look More Realistic Than Mattel Barbies [PICS]
The idea of Barbie could be getting a full-figured make-over. An artist is trying to raise money to create a doll that looks like the everyday woman. His motto? Average is beautiful.
Last summer, artist Nickolay Lamm created a 3D model of a Barbie doll with the average proportions of a woman 20 years old and over. His measurements were based off of those from Centers for Disease Controls and Preventions, which names the average woman at a little bit taller than 5'3'', weighing at 166.2 pounds, with a waist circumference of 37.5 inches.
"A lot of people asked where they could buy normal Barbie, but no one could buy it because it didn't exist," Lamm said in an interview with TIME.
Now, the artist has taken the concept of the average Barbie into his own hands. Today, Lamm started a fundraiser with a goal of $95,000 in the hopes of making the doll, named Lammily, a reality.
"A highly detailed and very accurate 3D digital prototype of Lammily has been created," Lamm explains on the fundraiser's website. "The manufacturer will use this model to make the physical doll. I've been consulting with Robert Rambeau, former Vice President of Manufacturing at Mattel, who has offered his experience and expertise in selecting a highly qualified manufacturer. I need your help to cover the costs of tooling and molding, and to meet the manufacturer's minimum order quantity."
So far, Lamm has raised almost $8,000 from 326 backers. Donators will have the chance to claim an Exclusive First Edition Lammily "wearing blouse, denim shorts, and white sneakers," or a small, large or signed Lammily poster for donations starting at $25. For a whopping $5,000, donators will get their name on the Exclusive First Edition Lammily packaging and will be "entitled to receive up to 10 first edition Lammily dolls." No one has claimed this reward yet.
"If there's a very good chance like that, and if the average sized doll can actually look good, like Lammily does, let's make it then," Lammily told Fast Company. "If there's even a 10 percent chance that those dolls affect [body image], let's make it."
Kim Culmone, Barbie lead designer, has argued that Barbie's proportions are necessary in order to make changing the doll's clothes easy, but Lammily isn't buying it.
"I'm 100% sure there's something called thinner materials, and that's my response to [Mattel]," he said. "I actually put some Barbie clothes on my original model, and she looked pretty good."
Lammily also proudly boasts "minimal makeup" and clothing characterized by "striking simplicity."
"The key to differentiate is that my doll is a cool-looking doll that just happens to be average," the creator continued. "Very few kids are concerned about body image like parents are. It would be like me trying to feed them broccoli."
Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @SH____4.