São Paulo – It all started after posting a photo. Craftswoman Daniele Oliveira posted on a social network the photo of a biscuit doll she had made at the request of a flight attendant from a Brazilian airline. All of a sudden, stewards from other airlines started to place orders. The success was such that it crossed the ocean and, this week, Oliveira shipped her first order to the United Arab Emirates.
“A flight attendant from Etihad ordered four little dolls”, said Oliveira. “Now, I’m receiving emails from other flight attendants wanting to buy from 50 to up to a 100 unities at once, especially those from Etihad”, says the craftswoman, who also sold to a flight attendant from Emirates.
Oliveira says that the first doll that generated this big demand was a “humanized” sculpture, with the facial features of the flight attendant that had ordered it. This type of doll, she says, takes up to a month to be made and carries a tag price of R$ 600 (US$ 199.79). With the great demand, Oliveira had to create a new type of doll. “I came up with the idea to create a standard line to make the job easier. I developed another style, with a faster modeling”, she says.
This way, she was able to reduce the production time of the dolls to around five days, reduce the price and increase the number of dolls produced. “I produce a minimum of ten dolls per month and only of the flight attendant model”, she says. Before working with flight attendants, Oliveira produced other works made of biscuit, especially bride and groom and those for birthdays.
“There is no other person that does this type of work with flight attendants. I created and was able to find a market. The girls are helping me and I think it will work”, she believes. The girls that she refers to are flight attendants from Etihad and Emirates that placed the orders and, according to the craftswoman, pledged to promote her work among the staff of other airlines.
The flight attendant dolls, when sold from Brazil, cost R$ 199 (US$ 66.26) and come with a small bag. For an extra R$ 15 (US$ 4.99), the doll comes with a small luggage. For this same price, Oliveira also sells keychains of plane miniatures. “It’s selling well. It’s getting more popular and the flight attendants email me saying that everyone wants one”, says Oliveira about the promotion and results of her job.
The piece ordered by the Emirates flight attendant is about to be shipped. But it’s not only the flight attendants abroad that the little dolls from the Dubai’s airline pleased. “The girls here that dream to become flight attendants also buy them”, she points out. She hopes that with the first sale for the flight attendant from Dubai, a lot of other orders will be made by her friends.
In Brazil, the craftswoman, who works only with made to order pieces, already sold dolls to flight attendants from companies such as Azul, Gol, TAM, Avianca and Passaredo, besides students from aviation schools.
Born in Rio Grande do Norte, Oliveira today lives in Fortaleza, Ceará state. She works by herself in her atelier named after her. Currently, she says, her earnings are above R$ 3,000 (US$ 998.9).
Contact information
Atelier Dani Oliveira
Website: www.facebook.com/AtelierCoisasDaDani?pnref=lhc
Email: ateliercoisasdadani@hotmail.com
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
