Oliver Makes Dolls
Pinoy Doctor Coppélius
Well, Sort Of...
By Kiki Tan
PUBLISHED: JULY 2009

“My family is very supportive of this venture.  I even have my Mom help out in making some of the dolls.  My Dad was the one who taught me how to use the sewing machine, in case I intend to use it for future projects." Oliver dela Rosa Ocampo

BEYOND FIELDS

Interestingly, Ocampo did not – and still do not – belong to the artistic field, as would be surmised considering his chosen field of interest. 

“I've been with the training and development field for five years now, and I'm currently working in a business process outsourcing (BPO) company in Baguio City,” says Ocampo, who, nonetheless, has extensive background in design and advertising.

His work experiences are as varied as his, err, materials used for dollmaking, however, having been a part-time radio announcer, a telesales representative, a mainframe programmer, a freelance Web and graphic designer, and an I.T. assistant – perhaps reflective of his educational background, since Ocampo is a graduate of Computer Programming in Business Systems from STI College in 1996, while also having an undergraduate Bachelor of Arts Major in English from Baliuag University and CAP College Foundation Inc. in 1994.

LIMITED EDITIONS

“My family is very supportive of this venture.  I even have my Mom help out in making some of the dolls.  My Dad was the one who taught me how to use the sewing machine, in case I intend to use it for future projects. Most of my friends and co-workers buy my dolls and are really excited about them. They are the ones telling their other friends and friends of friends about my dolls,” Ocampo says of the support system he has that helped – and still helps – his entry in the field easier.

Thus, the challenge for Ocampo is not confronting homophobia, i.e. facing the erroneous association of dolls (much more dollmaking) with effeminacy, but in delivering the quality of dolls he wants.  “Since my dolls are all hand-stitched, I have to limit the number of orders I get.  This is very crucial to maintain the quality of the dolls that I create. And that means I cannot take in huge volumes of requests at a particular time,” he says.

There are also the expenses incurred to ensure high quality of goods.  “Felt cloth is very expensive, but in order to maintain the required look of certain dolls, I do not substitute other fabric over felt cloth, however costly,” Ocampo says.  “Divisoria is still the best place to get the materials that I need, so whenever I deliver orders to Manila, I take the opportunity to go there and purchase as much materials as I can.”
As far as marketing is concerned, “thanks to the Internet, I can easily reach people not just here in the Philippines, but also abroad. Word of mouth is very important, that's why I am very critical about the quality of my dolls.”

FORWARD LOOKING

Ocampo is already looking forward to, one day, owning his own doll shop in Baguio City – all the while offering workshops on, yes, dollmaking.  For now, Ocampo’s dolls “are marketed mostly via Facebook and my Web site where I get majority of the orders.  In Manila, my sister sells them in a small shop in BF Resort, Parañaque. If you're in Baguio City, you may find them in Locus Cafe in Nevada Square. You can also check out my dolls during my weekend workshops at Cordillera Coffee in SM City Baguio,” Ocampo says.

The dollmaker is happy to have found dollmaking as a, well, call.  “Aside from the profit, designing and creating these dolls help me de-stress.  It also allows me to enjoy my passion for design. Whenever there are orders, I make it a point to schedule the deliveries so as not to interfere with my work.  That means I get to keep my job and earn extra from the dolls,” Ocampo says.

And with that, Doctor Coppélius’ spirit (the jovial one, if it exists at all) lives on in the Philippines, as the focus on making dolls that moves, really touches people continues.