Three friends, the founders of Ardeur de l’amour, have joined together to realize their dreams of having a business centered on something they love. They not only created a website to sell doll fashions and accessories, they have opened a shop in Bangkok Thailand where fellow doll-lovers can take photos of their dolls in beautiful settings and enjoy doll-centered events. Ardeur de l’amour recently released two new doll fashion collections with a nautical theme, one for 1/4 size and one for 1/6 size BJDs. New collections will be released sometime in November.
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Q: Can you tell be a little about how Ardeur de l’amour started?
A: Ardeur is formed by a group of three friends — Elle, Shun Acho, and Rinnarin who have known each other for almost 20 years! We always have something in common starting from reading manga, to cosplay and now dolls. At first we were like others, being BJD collectors, but as time went by, and our passion became deeper and greater, Shun became a Face Up Artist who has created hundreds of gorgeous BJD faces, while Rin is now a costume designer making beautiful clothes for our beloved dolls. Elle, she has a dream to turn her passions into something she can make a living from. Finally, they decided to share their dreams and the shop was established.
Q: So all of the original founders are still active in the business? Could you tell me a little more about each of you and how each of you took on the different tasks for your business?
A: Yes, we all are still active in the business. Rin is Designer and Production that will take care of designing and collaborating in all production procedure. Shun is Face Up Artist and Marketing, taking care and coordinating with dealers for other imported products (ex. glass-eyes, tools), promoting the store to domestic market/Thai doll community, and doing all face-up work for the store’s dolls. Elle is Business Management, and her tasks mainly focus on foreign correspondence and promoting the store to international market.
Q: How did you settle on your store name Ardeur de l’amour?
A: Ardeur de l’amour is French, means “Ardour of love”. The reason we selected this name because we would like to portray our passion and love for BJDs.
Q: How often do you plan to release clothing collections?
A: We do not have specific plans for releasing clothing collections, but we try to release a Collection line every month, while other lines like OOAK may be once a year. Basic and Limited Collection line releases depend on occasion or special events.
Q: How are the ideas developed for each line (basic, collection, limited, one-off)?
A:Our lines:
Basic
Our ‘Basic’ clothing line doesn’t put much emphasis on the details, but there will be some patterns and embellishments specific to each design. They are primarily made to be teamed up with outfits or accessories that you already own. They could be designed as ‘multi-use’, or sometimes a plain piece, such as a pair of long black trousers. Despite its simplicity, the cutting and contour are well-accentuated.
Collection no.
Our ‘Collection No.’ clothing line will be regularly released every 1-2 months, running in a number series. Each number has its own unique style, design, and detail. The concept of each collection will be different, offering a wide variety of options. All outfits in the ‘Collection No.’ line will be created in ‘sets’. Each set has clothing pieces that can be worn separately, so you can create several distinctive looks or mix them up with other costumes.
Limited Collection
Our ‘Limited Collection’ consists of clothing items that truly reflect our designing skills in ‘Artist’ style — both with the design and materials used. Most of the materials used are personally hand-picked by us from various quality sources in Japan. This is because their color, pattern, and intricate details of lace and fabric pieces fit together nicely with our style. The ‘Limited Collection’ line does not come out very often, but is only available on special occasions or depending on when our designer’s artistic imagination has come to ripen! And likewise, every outfit offers many customizing possibilities.
ONE-OF-A-KIND
Our ‘One Off’ line is as fabulous in terms of the design and materials as our ‘Limited Collection’ line, but it will be revealed maybe only one or two times per year. What is so special about our ‘One Off’ line is that they are each ONE-OF-A-KIND, will not be replicated in the future, and are created specifically on a particular design concept for that special occasion.
Q: Can you tell me more about your shop? When did it open? Did both the online and Bangkok store open around the same time?
A: We do not want Ardeur to be just a clothing shop, but also an artistic place to show our imagination and creativity, as well as a meeting point for for a community of doll lovers with a friendly environment. Not only are there high quality products you can try on your dolls, our staff also offers warm services and willingly give their best advice. We also dedicate one corner in our store that we decorate beautifully so our customers can bring their dolls for photo shooting and share them to the world! The display corner will be changed every month. Our flagship store was open on April 28th, 2012, and the online store was launched about a month later.
Q: How has the Bangkok store been received by the Thai doll community? Have you scheduled any events at the store?
A: We have received much positive feedback from our customers; they like our store’s ‘Gothic and Rococo’ concept with elegant and elaborate decorations, as well as our beautiful display corner. Also they like that they can try on the real products and are impressed with the design and quality. We plan to hold a doll meeting every month, but the schedule is varied (mostly on weekends).
Q: What doll shows have you attended with your products?
A: We attended Doll Fete 2012 and DollPaCa, both held in Bangkok, Thailand. At Dollpaca, besides bringing our latest clothing collections to the show, Shun was selected to do face-up for the official auction doll.
For international shows, we joined Dollism Plus 7 in Hong Kong, and this December we will attend Dollpa in Tokyo, Japan.
Q: Do you carry work by any other artists (outside of your group)?
A: Yes, but not for the clothing line. we have some handmade accessories by Artist Guitaros (under brand ‘Ornella’), and will maybe have more artists in the future.
Q: You are planning to expand into DD clothing? Are you working on any designs now?
A: Yes, actually.
Q : What plans do you have for the future?
A : We plan to release the outfits for all size BJD and DD and the style will be various but still contain our unique designs. We are in the process of designing and expecting our first DD clothing collection to be released in November 2012.
We would like to educate all customers to recognize Ardeur de l’amour
as a stylish brand with high quality products and affordable price.
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Images above: Caricatures of store owners (from top) Rin, Shun, and Elle, “Cutie Pet” scarf and headdress.
Thailand online store Ardeur de l’amour
The Ardeur de l’amour shop may be found on the 2nd Floor, Lido Multiplex, Siam Square, Bangkok Thailand.
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