Does OOAK exist?

I think that OOAK is a useful term when used by companies who generally produce multiples of the same design, but meaningless when used by artists who only produce one-of-a-kind works. For the company, it's highlighting an important selling point that is contrary to what customers might expect, whereas almost everyone expects customizers to produce only one of a custom doll.

 

OOAK was used before there were bjds for people who customized dolls, like Barbie or Gene. It's just the difference between something hand-painted and something that was stamped on during mass-production.

For hundreds of years a series of prints meant that every single one was as precisely like another as possible, even if they were hand-pulled. If an artist touched the plate at all to make even the slightest difference, then that print was no longer part of an edition, but was a mono-print. So basically, anything hand-made is OOAK, because it can't be guaranteed as being exactly alike another piece.

I believe that all bjds are OOAK. They are cast by hand and painted by hand. None have their faceups stamped on by machines. Technically, they are OOAK.

But in the bjd world there are distinctions within the OOAK label. There are dolls with customized faceups, there are limited editions, there are One-Offs, etc. These terms have meanings for us.

There is no judgement. One is not better than another, or MORE OOAK than another. They just mean different things.

And whether one is better than another or not depends on the individual.

The outside world still understands OOAK, though, even if it really doesn't apply well to bjds (because bjds are all hand-painted and owners dress them all differently). So OOAK means what it means to non-bjd types, and that's just fine. It's a useful term to distinguish hand-made from mass-produced or an edition that is exactly the same. (Bjds can be limited, but they really don't qualify as an edition, since they are touched by an artist and companies will do things like put faceups on some and not others and maybe do custom faceups--so there never is X-number of identical dolls that are released at one time (which would be what an edition is).

So I agree that OOAK doesn't mean much as far as bjds go--BUT it is an important search word for ebay or etsy, etc. And some people still use it because they were around when they customized Barbies, etc.

As for One-Offs vs Artist customizations, whatever an individual likes is what matters.

I've got both One-Offs and Artist customizations. I don't put more value on one over the other. I don't value them more than my non-limited dolls, either. I buy dolls that are special to me, no matter how rare or whatever else they may be! Of course, that's just my opinion. Others may feel differently.