Granado is a new Chinese company which opened last spring. Their first doll, Boyd, created by artist Crocus Lee, was released with a realistically sculpted and well articulated male body. The company later added a second male doll named Scout, and just released their first female doll named Sidonia. In addition, they have now created a taller 68 cm male body with additional improvements to the joints.
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Q: I would like to start by obtaining some background on your company. Can you tell me a bit about how Granado was formed?
A: GRANADO is a studio that specializes in making ball-jointed dolls in Mainland China, established in April 2011.
Our sculptor Crocus Lee has worked on sculpting dolls for a long time. In the past, we only made custom heads from customers’ orders, and the old brand name is “Cinderella”. “Cinderella” has been running for about 2 years.
Then, when we had our first male doll, we decided to step into the worldwide market, as a token for moving into this new stage, we change the old “Cinderella” brand name to “GRANADO”.
Q: How long did you work on your first doll Boyd before you revealed him last spring?
A: Actually, working time on Boyd’s was fitful. Crocus Lee was then still making the custom heads from “Cinderella”. He could only use his free time to create Boyd (and gave up a lot of rest).
He wanted to make a perfect body that is beautiful, nimble, and stable. He tested Boyd’s body for a long period, so he spent about 1 year making Boyd’s prototype.
Q: How many people work at Granado?
A: We have 2 main staff in Granado, that is Crocus Lee and Ikaru. Crocus is our doll sculptor, and Ikaru (Me) is the planner and sales. Sometimes we hire freelancers to do jobs like creating dolls’ images or designing outfits.
Q: Can you tell me a little about the Crocus Lee?
A: Crocus Lee graduated from sculpture in a college in China. When he graduated, he started creating BJDs until now. He likes details and realistic dolls, and this is his professional specialty.
On the personal side, he is married, and he has a baby girl. I remember that his daughter’s birthday is the same day as our doll Boyd’s.
Q:What do you think sets Granado apart from many other doll companies?
A: First of all, we always want to create something different, something more than being beautiful and attractive. We wanted a doll that can express Crocus’s emotions and plans.
Then, we hope to keep everything simple and not over decorating, we hope to show the innate beauty of our dolls.
We encourage our customers to design a new image for their dolls. Actually, our dolls have many possibilities so we set Granado’s background as a model agency.
Q: Where did you get the name Granado for your company?
A: Granado in Spanish means ‘distinguished and selected’.
We like the culture of Spain, an outburst of enthusiasm. We hope our enthusiasm can be shared with our customers. And we want all our dolls to be perfect and outstanding. That’s why we are called “Granado”.
Someone has jokingly called us “Grenade”, however, we didn’t really mind that because that showed that we’re startling. (lol)
Q: Can you tell me anything about the face-ups you offer? Who designed your doll’s face-ups? Do you have a particular artist who works with you?
A: At first, we design the face-up on the computer. We take photos of the blank head and draw on them. When we are satisfied, we give the simulated face-up picture to the artist.
Sometimes we will tell the stories of the doll and the imagery we want to express to the artist and let them freely design the face-up.
Since Sidonia, we have collaborated with a face-up artist. She is very talented, but when she is too busy, we have to find another artist.
Q: Will you be offering clothing in the future? What size clothing would likely fit your dolls?
Yes, in fact, we do. We have plans to sell outfit and we have designed quite a few. However, we are short of manpower so we can’t manage that yet.
(Actually Crocus designs outfits for each doll, we are looking for a good tailor to make these clothes.)
GRANADO’s 64 cm male body can fit SD17 size shirt and SD13 pants. And the new released 62cm female body is similar to Volks Dollfie size.
Q: Why did you decide to re-make your male body at this time and release a new 68 cm body?
A: In fact, we are persistent in the body design, we want to do our best in providing a human and practical design. Our customers’ feedback is that our 64cm male body has the best pose-ability amongst the dolls they own, and the body has great stability.
Of course, our design isn’t perfect yet. We noticed that the old joints were not stable enough and there were problems like shrinking and distortion during manufacturing. After consideration, we have decided to make improvements to the known problems. We have almost re-polished and mended every single part.
We hope to present to our customers our best and our newest. Our BJD body design matured through the improvements we made.
Q: I notice that you now include male heel shoes with your male bodies. Do you have plans to design shoes for men with heels?
A: In fact, we have a plan to design our own heel shoes.
We’ve considered the fact that customers want heel feet that could fit a range of shoes, so the male heel feet we designed can fit SD16’s heel shoes.
We’re happy that the outcome of the overall proportion looks natural.
Q: Can you hint about any future plans that you have?
A: In our plans, we already have concepts for five dolls. We will release some of them later this year.
However, we haven’t decided which one should go first because they’re at similar progress. Our main focus will remain on male dolls.
We also have a new idea for our female body, too. Sidonia has a body with outstanding curves, so next time we would like to create a more natural female body. However, it may take more time to develop than our male bodies.
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Photos above: Original body with Boyd and head jointed hands prototypes, men’s heel shoes in-progress.
Granado ~ Company Website
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Details of 68cm body in-progress :
