Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Yamile Meza. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Yamile , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Around eight years ago I had become disillusioned with the graphic design scene around me and as a creative outlet started to make dolls for a few friends, that December a friend asked me to join her Christmas bazaar with a doll stand and on a pinch I had to come up with a name and logo in two days flat. All things British (Japanese as well) have held a special place in my heart since forever and Alfie just appeared in my head, ding!
I searched, just to be sure, that it could be applied to girls and boys…. And so, I had a name for a business I had no idea I was launching.

Yamile , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

This tiny doll brand of mine has been pure happenstance, my work life was graphic design everywhere all the time. I grew weary of the design world after fifteen years and needed to channel creativity somehow.
I say happenstance because I never entertained a career change, went to university for design, I was going to design.
But somehow one doll led to another, many dolls led to bazaars and expos, that led to collaborations with people that, have now, helped me create a small community around a point of view, cultural influences and life references that somehow I get to share with hundreds.

Last year I really don’t know out from where, but I got features from GMA and a show at Univision, those were proud moments, surreal, happy, proud moments.

To someone that gets to see my work for the very first time, I would tell them- I make dolls, custom dolls, book and cinema characters, from drawings, from photos, to celebrate milestones, for representation and just because.
Clients have the most lovely interesting reasons for ordering their dolls and some, just have an idea they’ve carried around since childhood and I get to translate into fabric.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Starting Alfie Doll was exactly this, pivoting, switching lanes career wise, starting a whole new business. Unknowingly at the start, but little by little graphic design became a side job and doll making took over.
You get into pattern making, start buying supplies, dive head first into references and do some kind of market research to get an idea of what is out there, is there someone out there with similar concepts, you adjust the vision in your head and just start sewing.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Alfie Doll runs 95% out of Instagram, therefore, collaborating and word of mouth are absolutely the source of all my clients. People that either buy or receive an Alfie Doll and graciously share and post about it, there is we’re I get to meet new clients.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/alfiedoll
• Facebook: Alfie Doll