Meet my new friend: Eszterda doll

I finally have one, and she is all mine! An Eszterda doll!

I don't remember anymore when was it that I first saw her. It was probably one of those nights when I, after the house finally goes quiet, get lost in the infinity of the www. But I do know that I fell in love instantly. So much in fact, that I had to write to the creator immediately to find out who she was. And now, I will tell you too.

Eszter Dobó, the lady behind Eszterda dolls is a poetic soul. You can see that the moment you enter her blog. There is a little or no text there, only photography...but photography so beautiful it speaks to you right away.

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Even though she was always a creative being, Eszter's major ended up to be in economy. She did make toys and accessories for her daughters, but only after the third one was born she decided it is 'now or never' point in her life and started stitching for real.

These dolls are hand embroidered and if you do let your kids play with one of those they can gain so much. First, and foremost, they will not choke on a plastic eye that got detached after 10 minutes of play. Seriously, the richness of colour, texture and the uniqueness of such a doll can only do good for them. Their beauty aside, a doll should be a doll, says Eszter. You need to be able to squeeze them, caress them, even dress them up or take to bed with you.

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But even a home without children should not be a home without one of these magical creatures. Just look at them:

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 Eszter is obviously drawn to folk art motifs - Hungarian or other authentic ethno-cultures.

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Their charming naivety and tastefully primitive simpleness is what makes them so special and universal. Embroidery, as somewhat old fashioned form of decoration becomes modern and exquisitely attractive in her interpretation.

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As I've already mentioned, I love them beyond words and I know you will too.

You can find them on

Etsy, ESZTERDArte
Meska, Eszterda

Like on facebook, and be sure to check out the beautiful blog regularly.

All photos but the first one are courtesy of Eszter Dobó!

Art For Free - Saturday Night Special + Giveaway

 THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!

First of all, let me just tell you how happy I am to have a chance to write about something like this, it is unbelievable!

A group of Hungarian artists got together in a brilliant project, and they called it simply by its name ART FOR FREE.

The idea was born in Pécs, where Kisház (Smallhouse) - the groups headquarters are situated. The idea behind the whole project is to make fine art readily available for basically anyone who bothers to pick it up, and to inspire people to actually want to own a piece of art.

Project kickoff took place at Dombos Fest . 

From left to right: Endre Kis, Ede Sinkovics, Róbert Gyuris

 Three artists, Endre Kis, Róbert Gyuris (Smallhousers) with Ede Sinkovics in addition made three sketches inspired by the local motifs. The three drawings were procesed with different computerized methods resulting in three prints, each printed in 100 copies. And here is where the fun begins, when the three wizards are done with it, every single piece becomes a unique piece of art. Each print is colored by all three of them, without previous plan or agreement. You can check out some of the magic they do here, and admire how versatile the outcome is.

 

For more photos go here. (Above photos were taken by Edvárd Molnár)

But this is not all. If you were not lucky enough to visit Dombos Fest, you still have a chance of getting hold of their art. There is a HUGE batch of 500 pieces waiting to be handed out like flyers on Budapest’s Nyugati sqare sometimes this year.

To add to that, people parked on a one of the parking lots in Pécs were surprised a few days ago by Smallhousers Róbert Gyuris - Endre Kis - András Pinczehelyi and art drawings on their windshields. 

From left to right:  Endre Kis, András Pinczehelyi, Róbert Gyuris

     For more photos go here.

A little birdie tells me they are planning something yet unseen before...ART FOR FREE delivery with your pizza. I don’t have the details yet, othewise I would be having pizza every day, in hope of getting one of their pieces.

And if you weren't lucky to be on Dombos Fest, you don't live in Pécs, or you do but you just weren't parked at that particular parking lot yesterday, you won't be in Budapest by the end of this yer to grab hold of one of the 500 prints on Nyugati square, and you absolutely despize pizza (is there such a person anyway?), there is still a chance for you to get ART FOR FREE. How? The cool people of Kisház offered to give away 20 of their prints to readers of BagofPretty, wherever they are. All you need to do is:

Leave a comment to this blog post saying you would like to win + Like Bagofpretty and Kisház on Facebook

If for some reason you are not on facebook, and you would still like to win one of the prints, you still can (remember, fine art for all). In that case please:

Leave a comment to this blog post saying you would like to win, and describe how and where you promoted this (link to your blog, any other social network...and interesting story of how you told your neighbour, babysitter, dogwalker about us...give us something!)

For additional entries share the link of this blog post on your page, blog about it or do whatever you do when you want to promote something (please leave a separate comment for this).

This giveaway will close at Midnight on December 12. 2011. (Budapest time) and is open to anyone. I would LOOOVE to see these babies dispatch all over the world! Winners will be chosen randomly using random.org.

You can leave comments in any language, we are openminded people!

Here are the winners:

1.  Nenad who said: Ah, and I shared it on Facebook, its important, I reckon.
2.  Martina who said: I ja hocu pobjediti ;-))))))) I'd like to win......
3. Ivana who said...My wall at facebook has shared this post,
                                 My wall at home would like to share it too,
                                 so pls give me ART for FREE
4.  Eszter who said: Képzeld a blogon nem tudok commentet hagyni!:( Úgyhogy itt mondom, én                is szeretnék nyerni!:) Like-oltam mindkettőtöket!:))
5.  Petra L B who said: I would like to win because I have very nice place on my wall where I would put it... As I'm not fb member I could not post it on my wall but I have sent mail to few friends....looking fwd for winner announcement :)))))))))) juhuuuuuu
6. laszlo F. who said: Ek wil my vrye kuns
7. Szalveta who said: ocu ja pobijediti :))) vec jesam ?? :))
8. Nat Welch who said: hi berto! this is fantastic - please please send me a bag of pretty to new zealand i will love it forever - nat welch 50 crummer road grey lynn new zealand .... thankyou thankyou thankyou xxxxxx
9. Anna who said: Én is kérek nyomatot! És pizzát is fogok rendelni...   
10. Lorapas who said: Honestly, I was late at Dombos fest, I dont live in Pecs but I looove pizza. And ofc, I would like to hang one print on my wall. :)  
11. Belinda who said: I would like to win - thanks!
12. bibariba who said...teta biđa wants it too :) and will share it on her www.blacreatifs.blogspot.com too :) a ti dođi sutr na kavu :)
13. Hrvi who said...I would LOVE to win!!! And I've shared it on a FB! :D
14. Anonymous (Danica) who said: Volela bih da pobedim!:)))
15. vanja who said: I'd like to win. :) !!! ihaaaaaaaaaaa !!!
16. ksenija who said: hocu i ja da pobedim ! :) a ima li protekcije ? ;)
17. MajaNS who said: Podelila na fb, to sada znaju svi moji prijatelji, njih 203, od tih 203 njih 70% će možda to pogledati, od tih 70% moguće je da će 40% lajkovati, a od tih što su lajkovali možda će 20% podeliti na svom profilu, a ako...uh... , pa ovo je već vredno nagrade...:)))
18. mama i tata who said: i mi zelimo dobiti, poslali smo mail svim prijateljima
19. Anonymous (Viki) who said: Queen Viktorius is entering the competition!
20. rpezelj who said: Ja želim sve....

Congratulations to the lucky winners! Please send your mailing address to bagofpretty@gmail.com and we will contact you with details!