They
were popular right from the start – a range of in-scale wooden furniture and living accessories was produced to match. Many loyal customer had
nostalgic memories of their dolls and have returned to buy for their children over the years. When
the Trendon factory closed we were allocated some of the final production of
dolls and have kept and sold them though our shops slowly over the years. About Sasha A
protégé of Paul Klee and a contemporary of Karl Geiser, Sasha was formally
trained in painting and sculpture. She married the painter Ernst Morgenthaler.
Beginning in the 1940s (in her 40’s) until her death in 1975, her first dolls were called studio dolls. These were
handmade and expensive to buy. Considered
works of art and created by an artist Sasha's dolls were sold from her studio
and through the Heimatwerk shops in Switzerland. In the USA, Marshall Field
& Co. in Chicago exhibited and sold her dolls. But to enable her to produce a doll accessible to all children she developed the design for
the 16" ‘serie’ play-dolls. Production In England the Sasha licence was granted to ’Frido’ (subsidiary of
Friedland Doggert, an electrical manufacturer in Stockport), run by John and
Sarah Doggart. Sasha dolls became a
passion for the Doggerts, and Frido was able to buy Trendon in 1970, an already
well established toy manufacturer where the Sasha production was moved and
developed. It continued until 1986, when the whole business was sold. For a short time the moulds were owned by Creative playthings and sent
to the USA but the dolls were never produced. The
Dolls All Sasha dolls are strung together with elastic cord. The colour
of the cord indicates when the doll was produced so is an excellent way of
dating. They
have rooted nylon hair (the early versions wore wigs) and painted eyes (early dolls had sprayed and hand-painted eyes and lips).
Hand finishing meant they all differ slightly in style and face painting. The
German Sasha from both productions is marked on their backs and necks with the
Sasha logo, while the English dolls are unmarked. All
Sasha dolls wear wrist tags on their right wrists - a string with a little
medallion bearing the Sasha logo. The
early German Sasha is more plentiful in Europe than in America, while the
reverse is true for the English dolls. Dolls from the more recent German Gotz production
can be more easily found. I am now located in the USA but happy to post the Where do Sasha Come From booklets almost anywhere. Sophie 
Tridias
Toys and Sasha
Tridias Toyshop was started in Bath by my parents, Robin and Charlotte Cooke in 1964. Tridias
was the first shop in the UK to sell Sasha dolls first in our Bath branch,
and then over the 20 years of UK production in all our stores in the UK. Robin
and Charlotte were friendly with the Doggerts of
Trendon (see below) and avid enthusiasts and supporters of Sasha dolls.
There
were three ‘serie’ dolls, the first licenced in 1964
to Puppenfabrik Hans Gotz in Germany (and again in 1991 until 2001). These
first Sasha dolls went on sale in all Migros stores (Switzerland) on 8th
October 1965.
These
serie dolls have similar stylized bodies, in quarter scale, asymmetrical, and
in realistic proportions. They are made from hard vinyl, are perfectly balanced
and can pose alone. Their skin colourings are blended to represent all the
children of the world, and they have individually hand painted faces with soft
expressions.