Judith Sotriffer is an artisan based in Ortisei, Bozen, specializing in wooden toys and dolls. These traditional artefacts, dating back to the late 17th Century, are typical to the Val Gardena region: traditionally, the favoured subjects were nativity figurines, animals, dolls of all sizes, rocking horses and moving toys. After the figurine was carved, it was painted with glue-based colours, which gave the object a distinctive brightness. During the 19th Century this tradition lived its Golden age, as the vast majority of the people from Val Gardena was employed in the local toy-making industry. Then, around 1930, the practice started to fade away. It is said that each family specialized in a particular toy, but Judith Sotriffer is the only artisan who picked up doll making. Starting from a drawing and a wooden block, she is able to carve and shape wonderful smiling figures, a meter or a single centimetre in size, endowed with strong expressiveness – the result of many hours of work and great attention to detail. She also creates carved sculptures, Christmas-themed figurines and other wooden toys.

 

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Dda18 March 2024

Mariagrazia B. March 2024

judith-sotriffer February 2020
Judith Sotriffer

bambola originale della val gardena