BJD Museum with every doll sculpt ever made...

Sounds like I'm on the same wave length. My ideal would be for each company to display their standard bodies, and beside it all the heads they've made to fit it. I guess I would like to see all the heads with default face-ups. Many museum exhibits are digital today, so visitors could select dolls they wanted to see in greater detail from small photos. As long as the number of "hard copy" dolls was kept to a limit, such a museum is feasible, depending on the cooperation of the companies. They could even display holograms! I don't know if they have any real incentive to provide archival photos of dolls they no longer produce. Exhibits could be rotated - I'd love to see the most extravagant and creative examples of fullset dolls and limited editions.
And of course there would have to be a cafe with Asian snacks and a gift shop.

 

I'd love to see something like this! I think showing one of each body type and head sculpt would be good, don't really need a ton of repeats, but since it is a museum and not a store, it would be really important to me to show discontinued or limited old sculpts as well. There's the problem--how would a museum go about getting a hard copy of very limited long sold out dolls? Especially if they were limited to maybe 10 in existence, or even OOAK.

I would also like to see a history of BJD, names/pictures of sculptors and designers, clothing and accessories and maybe even an area for photoshoots with your own doll.

When I was a little kid, my grandma took me to a doll museum. It was an old house that someone had set up as a museum, had lots of different types of dolls, but the largest room was all Barbie, with rare boxed Barbies on the shelves around the room, special or controversial dolls in cases in the middle, a timeline of major changes to the line, and lots of accessories. It was the coolest thing I had seen! I think it's gone now, at least I've had no luck in finding it again as an adult, but I would love to see something like that again.

 

This would be interesting indeed. Though the museum curator would probably have a hard time acquiring limited dolls. If people loaned the limiteds for the exhibition it will work out. However, unless the company only made ONE sculpt then became bankrupt, I'm sure non limiteds alone would be enough to fill the space.

 

I don't think "every sculpt ever made" is feasible, or even necessary for a museum. A few sculpts from each of the major companies, and a handful of artist sculpts would be enough to get me interested in visiting. If such a thing existed I'd also like to see a display showing how the dolls are made with examples of how they look in all stages of creation! Since customization is such a huge part of BJDs, honestly I would be disappointed if all the dolls on display were blank or had default faceups.

 

That would be SERIOUSLY amazing. Soon much money though O.o Unless companies were willing to donate? Each company could have their own exhibit room and there could be QR codes with links to the doll's sale page... This would be really exciting

 

OMG I WOULD BUY PLANE TICKETS TO GO TO THIS MUSEUM SO FRICKIN FAST! Once I get interested in something, I need to know EVERYTHING about it. So a museum where I could literally have a real-life visual record of every sculpt would be AMAZING. I like the idea of QR codes with links to sales pages for current dolls! I'd want a resin yellowing section that showed the different colors it can turn and showing how long it takes certain resins to yellow to a certain point. This section would have to have some CP "beauty green" sculpts! And the evolution of face up styles! And clothes! And advances in eye making! I could go on for hours.

 

Definitely in on the fun! I would love such a museum, being able to see dolls from literally all the companies out there, their history, even taking companies that are no more to showcase. Seeing the way some companies have evolved over time and keeps on evolving, how all companies are inspired by each other to make something similar to a certain popular style at a given time. And yes, eyes, acrylic, glass, urethane, gumdrops, any kind of eyes. All the history right there at your fingertips and you wont have to type words into a search engine and fiddle through pages upon pages to find what you are looking for. There would have to be a creative corner in this museum as well, showcasing all the mods, clothing and crafting that are done by people who collects these dolls. I feel like I'm just rambling now xD

 

It is a wonderful idea. It always makes me sad, how you see just a tiny strictly frontal image of BJDs on the company website. I would be so wonderful, to be able to walk around and see the dolls from all angles. I have a THING about profiles, and it really bothers me to not be able to see a doll's profile before I buy one. To be able to view them in three dimension would be wonderful. To be able to see the work of many companies in one place and compare them would be so very useful. To trace the evolution of the styles from the earliest Volks to all the many styles being made today...that would be so cool!

 

I've heard of faceup artists doing free faceups provided the sculptor pay them with one extra head. I've always thought that down the road there will be a museum XD

 

It doesn't seem entirely possible, but anything close to it, I'd pay good money to see.

A book with the same idea would be incredible, albeit a little overwhelming.

 

Sometimes it feels like my own collection is turning into a museum, with mostly old and (many) lesser known sculpts XD.

I'd be interested in a museum that shows the history of this hobby, detailing how it started, what was popular in the beginning, what companies started experimenting first and with what result etc, up until now. You know: From classic Volks dolls, to CP starting their own line, to companies experimenting with double joints (Domuya flexibody anyone?) and different looks, the rise of artist dolls etc, etc. That way, you won't need every sculpt ever made, but are still able to show a great deal. And you're able to show more than just dolls, but face-ups, outfits, accessories, pictures etc.

 

I know that feeling... My own crew (the CP/Delfs in particular-) could probably pass for a small museum collection at this point.

It would be interesting to have the sculpts from each company and "period" of BJD development lined up together, I think. Just seeing the evolution of the dolls, both in terms of engineering and sculptural style, lined up like that in one place would be fascinating. It would also illustrate pretty clearly how the community as a whole's preferences have changed over the years.

 

Yes! Please start one!.

 

If there was such a museum I would definitely make the pilgrimage to visit it and I would take along my dolls to see their heritages. It would need to be at least a 3 day tour!

 

what a fun idea!

I think it would be interesting to throw in creative displays. I can imagine a display of identical head sculpts all painted by different artists to show how much versitility one head could have. Or a display that showed a side by side comparison of a standard doll and an identical doll that had been modified.
I think it would also be important for such a museum to have something on recasts. Maybe an infornmational thing on the common ways to spot one, and why they are not generally accepted in the hobby.

It would also be really fun to have at least one display where you had dolls "interacting" with each other in some sort of scene. It would be a great way to show off posing capabilities and maybe have different companies together side by side.

 

Cases with modified dolls and the tools to do the modification shown with them would be great. I am always puzzled by which electrical tools I should use if I wanted to modify one of my resins. And if these cases could be peppered all over the place would be even better.

Temporary events showing furniture, mechanical objects (SD size moped?), play-size automaton (for SD etc.) the best sewing machines for the hobby, would really get to the heart of a lot of craft people.
It would require someone with broad shoulders and enough dedicated staff to make it work.

The hobby would probably need to be included in TV programs to create enough interest in the museum.

EDIT: oh yes, a café, please a café! With craft, PC magazines etc! Everyone is lumbered with someone who is not interested at some point!

In fact a section on how the dolls are made would be wonderful! As everything seems to go the computerised way, THIS would interest a computer/phablet fanatic.

 

Yes! I would love to see one! It would be awesome if at the beginning it shows older dolls and the history of BJDs and how they came to be, and how they changed the more you go into the museum.

 

Well, a museum devoted only to dolls might not be feasible, but an exhibit of dolls and doll art at an art or natural science museum in a major city might be. A museum does not always own all or even any of the pieces in an exhibit, they are often on loan from private owners. Some exhibits travel to different museums with pieces being returned a year or more later.

Books and other memorabilia are sold in the museum's gift shop. There areal manner of events for these exhibits, which can be on display for up to nine months or more, with tours, tickets, talks, and our Museum of Natural Science also has a Cultural Feast that accompanies each major exhibit, at some appropriate restaurant in the city, with an accompanying lecture.

As this may not happen for some time, what about a virtual museum, with pics from owners and companies? Maybe on this site? Perhaps there would be those who would put the pics for this together, cataloging the exhibits?