Freddy Tan
of

By Lisa A. Lawrence

While interviewing Freddy, and in my various email exchanges with him while setting up his cover article, I came to the conclusion that Freddy is a very light-hearted, happy-go-lucky sort of fellow.  He seems to find a child-like humor in almost everything, and his fun-filled attitude spilled over into our interactions, making me feel like we were at a carnival or a circus.  While Freddy's command of the English language is pretty good, certainly good enough to communicate well, I've actually taken a lot of liberty in making his quotes readable while maintaining his meaning.  Even though Freddy's article is rather short in content, just imagine peals of laughter throughout. 

Freddy Tan is from Singapore.  He takes care of his mum and dad; his parents live with him.  Freddy is very happy to have a supportive family, which includes a couple of sisters. 

Freddy has a diploma in Fine Arts and has worked as an illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor, and now, full time as a doll artist!  "I never tell people what my job is," Freddy notes, "because even if I tell them I make dolls, they will reply 'what, you're in the door business?'  I just tell them, 'yeah, I deal with wood supply!’  LOL!"  Freddy also recalls an incident from the first Barbie® Convention he attended.  "I was standing behind some people in a queue and somebody behind me asked me for directions,"  Freddy recalls. "A guy toward the front of the line turned around and said to me, 'I never knew you could SPEAK English.'"  Hellooooooo!  More peals of laughter!

Despite his love for repainting and costuming dolls, Freddy claims he is not a doll collector.  Lately, however, he admits to be obsessed with ball-jointed dolls and has a collection of five such dolls, noting that they cost him an arm!  Apparently, his leg escaped unscathed.

Freddy started out six years ago as an OOAK Barbie designer.  "I was very active doing doll shows all over the US, but eventually found that my favorite doll is Sydney®,"  Freddy states.  "I'm trying my best to repaint her. It took me awhile to get used to repainting the bigger dolls but it's my current favorite, so far!”

Two years ago, Freddy started selling his repaints.  "I was struggling in the beginning," Freddy admits, "but was totally hooked after that.  The prices of some of my repaints start really low, at $100.”

Freddy has only collaborated once with another artist: a friend of his in Singapore who does amazing reroots. Freddy does, however, take commissions, usually selling his OOAK outfits separately from his OOAK dolls unless he's made a unique portrait doll; then he only sells the dressed doll.  Even Freddy's commissions are OOAKS, as he doesn't want to duplicate his work.

While Freddy is still a freelance designer, his true passion is his dolls and he's lucky enough to pretty much make a living off of them!  When thinking about taking his business to a more commercial level, Freddy admits, "I'm always waiting for someone to approach me for such a business but it is difficult due to where I live."

Freddy is completely self-taught as a repainter and hair stylist.  However, "for the dresses," Freddy notes, "My lovely aunty, who is a seamstress, taught me a lot.”  He gets his inspiration from high-fashion magazines and TV programs, but also notes that living in Singapore gives him varied cultural inspiration.  "Singapore is a multi-cultural country," Freddy states, "consisting of four different racial groups: Chinese, Indians, Malays, and Eurasians.  Each of the races has their own cultural beauty, like their costumes and festivals.  Usually, the traditional costumes influence me and inspire me a lot."

Freddy sometimes designs outfits first, then shops for the perfect fabric, and sometimes finds fabrics that inspire his designs. When he travels for conventions, if Freddy happens upon a fabric store, he'll often find inspiring fabrics.  The length of time it takes Freddy to complete an outfit varies. "It depends on my mood," he laughs. "And I always make my outfits removable."

His repaints, however, generally take two to three days.  So far, Freddy hasn't done a repaint based on a family member or a friend.  Instead, he gets inspired by looks he finds in books and magazines.  "While I'm a movie and comic book freak," Freddy admits, "I'm not really inspired so much by actresses as I am by models. Comic book characters would be really cool for Matt® or Trent®."

While Freddy claims to love most of the process of repainting dolls and creating outfits, finding each different process to be therapeutic, when asked if he could just do the designing--no sewing or repainting--he responds, "SUREEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Freddy does a lot of sketching before creating an outfit. "I'm pretty good at drawing," he notes; "I scored all A's in it!  Once I have a completed sketch, I make a pattern."  He works every day non-stop, but usually at night.

Once Freddy has a new creation for sale, he posts on the doll boards and gives a link to his website, www.freddytan-creations.com. He attends only one doll show a year, as it is too expensive for him to travel more.  Freddy has traveled a lot to the US for doll shows and to parts of Asia.

Freddy's hobbies include going to the gym, swimming, reading, and going to movies.  Freddy also loves toys. "Whenever I go shopping with my sisters, they know where to find me if I disappear," Freddy laughs. "I will be in the TOY department, of course!  Believe me, I am always a child-at-heart kind of guy!  Asked his future plans, Freddy laughs again: "Too far to tell! Hehehehe!" As for his customers, Freddy states emphatically, "I LOVE THEM ALL!”