Ldoll Festival 7 is being held on October 27-28, in the same location : Lyon, France. It marked its place as an international event with attendees from all over the world, both as visitors and exhibitors.
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Q: BJDcollectasy ran an article on Ldoll before in July 2014. How many events have been held since that date?
A: Since 2014, Ldoll Festival has only grown in size and popularity. To maintain the quality of the event, we chose to organize the Festival every other year from 2014 on.
The 2014 edition was very special to our hearts. It was Ldoll’s 5th anniversary. We had a birthday cake made out of candy brought on stage with sparkler candles and the whole team was very emotional. I think the audience loved that energy and we were so proud to share this with everyone.
Q: Are you offering anything new for this year’s event?
A: Ldoll Festival 6 took place in 2016 and it was our biggest edition ever with more than 140 exhibitors.
With Ldoll 6, we reached out to a wider range of doll creators. Artist dolls are now a huge part of the hobby, and we try to have artists well represented at Ldoll. We also thrive to make it the top festival for Pullip owners and the Blythe community.
This year, Ldoll Festival 7 will be even bigger. We announced our record of 162 exhibitors but we are already past that number with new bookings. The trust we have from creators, artists and companies is amazing and humbling.
Bookings and applications for our contests close on August 31st, so we will soon have the final picture of what Ldoll 2018 will look like.
Q: Has Ldoll changed much in any way since then?
A: What made Ldoll special from the start was that it is a very community-centered event. It is not just a giant market place. People meet up, chat for hours, play, restring their dolls, take pictures, laugh, take part in our contests. They have a place where they can enjoy their hobby safely and to the most. It is crucial for us to keep this “family mood” during the event, no matter how many more exhibitors join.
Our raffles are also staple events that are extremely popular because the prizes are always amazing. Thanks to the support of our sponsors, we were able to go from one to two raffles – one each day of the Festival.
We feel the level of creativity and talent in the community is well showcased at Ldoll. What people do for our contests is incredible.
We are very attentive to what the visitors and the exhibitors want in terms of services and events. We are not scared to try new things and to take away things that don’t work. For instead, we held a cosplay contest for several editions because we love cosplay. But we had fewer and fewer contestants. The contest is not held this year. We used to have an exhibitor award for the coolest exhibition booth, but this too did not really take. In 2014, we wanted to include more people in our photography contest and we organised the first ever international online doll photo contest with a BJD as the first prize. But people regretted our traditional on-site photo contest, so we brought it back this year.
We’re looking forward to visitors giving us more ideas! We are really eager for feedback to always do better.
Q: Are many of the original staff members still involved?
A: The staff is still the same core group of friends. Some people had to leave because of personal projects, and a few new friends joined us, but we are mostly the same group. The most noticeable departure was that of Lelahel, who co-founded Ldoll. Lelahel still takes active part in the hobby as a clothes designer.
Ldoll is run as an association. Everyone in the staff is volunteering and we have a blast getting together and making this happen. We are all doll collectors from the early years when the hobby was just starting in France.
Q: Is there a theme to Ldoll events?
A: We tried to give a general theme to the events at the beginning, mostly through our poster and graphics, but since our contests have themes, it’s probably too much information. This year, the themes are: “video games” for the customization contest, “purple” for the make-up challenge (both held on Saturday 27th) and “tarot cards” for the photo contest (held on Sunday 28th).
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
A: We need our visitors to keep Ldoll going for the years to come.
Share this adventure with us! Do not hesitate to contact us for information on the best way to come to Lyon and to stay over the weekend.
Ldoll LINKS :
http://facebook.com/
http://instagram.com/
https://www.flickr.
Email: info@ldollfestival.com
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