Image of Russian Dolls
Image of a Lacquer box
Image of a Russian Egg
Image of a Pecking Chicken
Image of a Dancing Bear

"What started as a hobby has now become an exciting business..."

My personal interest in Russian Dolls goes back over many years; firstly as a child, playing at a friend's house, where his parents had a large blue Russian doll that we played with. The memory of this doll has stayed with me.

My first nesting doll was found at a trade exhibition at the NEC some 19 years ago. The design of the 5 in 1 doll features a Joker, with the inside dolls being the playing cards King, Queen, Knave and Ace of Hearts. This is an unusual doll, but it wasn't a Russian Doll. Over the following years I saw the occasional doll, maybe in a gift shop, but none caught my imagination.

Finally on a college trip with students to Prague while Lecturing at UCE in Birmingham, my dream came true. Throughout the City there was many shops selling Matryoshka Dolls, finally after looking at hundreds of different dolls, I choose a 5 in 1 doll that depicts the story of the Snow Queen. This is where the story of Russian Crafts starts from, and where my collection of dolls grew.

Today the collection contains over 175 different items, from exquisitely painted Icon eggs, Fedoskino Workshop Lacquer boxes, to a massive 30 in 1 doll that depicts all the major churches and cathedrals within the Moscow. Obviously, our collection contains the choice items from our purchases from Russia.

What started out as a collection, which created a lot of intrigue from friends and family has now turned into a major business. Over the years we have exhibited at many Top Events and Shows, where we have always been greeted by many enthusiastic customers, many of whom have now become collectors themselves.

Today Russian Crafts is one of the largest retailers of Russian Arts and Crafts in the UK today. You will always find us exhibiting at many of the events we have attended over the past 7 years now, because many of our customers now have become very serious collectors indeed.

As well as specialising in Russian Dolls, we also will have a wide range of exquisite hand painted Lacquer boxes from the villages of Kholui and Palek as well as boxes from the exclusive Fedoskino Workshop.

We look forward to meeting our many friends and collectors again at this years Sidmouth Folk Week.

Clive Moore and Tracey Lees