Annette and her family were refugees from Saxony after World War II. Because of this, her childhood was quite unusual and she did not have any dolls as a child! As an adult, Ms. Himstedt, an insurance saleswoman, tried to model a doll of her daughter, and as they say, the rest is history--she taught herself to sculpt dolls out of porcelain, practiced and perfected her sculpting working on neighborhood children, and she became a world-known, self-taught doll artist. Besides the artistic influences mentioned on her work above, often a child's face will inspire her sculpting--Ms. Himstedt will often photograph children that she sees (with permission) which she uses for inspiration. Her sculpting is done in her home in Germany, and then her dolls are produced at her factory in Spain under Ms. Himstedt's close supervision. Many doll collectors and critics consider Ms. Himstedt to be one of the top doll artists of our era.

We're honored to have her beautiful dolls.