111 OI magazine given for thinking she’s winked back at you. Judith proudly tells us, “dolls are my children. I say goodbye to them before wrapping them up and shipping them away”. Since 1985, her life’s work has been to revive the ancient doll-carving tradition in Val Gardena. It was a blooming industry in the mid-18th century, involving the whole valley before being forgotten. Back then, everyone gathered in the drawing room in front of the heater to carve dolls and wooden toys: bears, horses, religious and folklore figures inspired by the valley’s culture. Val Gardena wasn’t an agricultural Nirvana but it made up for it in extensive Swiss pine forests. It’s hardly surprising that the locals became outstanding woodcarvers. Their creations were sold across squares, fairs, and markets. “A The first thing you’ll notice upon entering Judith Sotriffer’s workshop in Urtijëi/Ortisei is the strong scent of paint and Swiss pine. The second thing you’ll notice is her work bench. Covered in wood chips, splotches of paint, files, scalpels and brushes, a lively stage for her smiling dolls and other wooden shapes – Pinocchios, court minstrels, and rocking horses; ducks and rabbits used as jeweler boxes. And they’re all made of wood. “Just like in the past,” says the doll maker as she delicately applies paint to her creations, “when Val Gardena had a veritable doll-making industry. Wooden toys were the valley’s most precious resource”, She’s working on a Virgin Mary doll. She applies two black lines for eyebrows and lashes, a dash of blue for her eyes, a dab of face powder and a faint red for her lips. Blink, and you may be forIt was not uncommon to find swiss pine dolls fromVal Gardena scattered around the globe. For more than two centuries, local artisans would diligently chip away during winter, and merchants would sell the figurines during the warmer months. A tradition which, if it weren’t for Judith Sotriffer, would have been forgotten by Carlotta LOMBARDO
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