Doll-making business weaves together livelihood and heritage

AMMAN — A love for cultural fashion motivated by connecting the past with the future and a will to keep heritage alive through the generations motivated entrepreneur Dima Abu Qaoud to establish Madeena Dolls, which sells handcrafted rag dolls dressed in hand embroidered dresses inspired by traditional Jordanian and Palestinian dress.

Established in 2018, Madeena Dolls creates dolls that represent different personas. Each doll is made to represent a different city, with the dresses embroidered with the variety of traditional stitches and colours that differ from one area to another.

“The project can help achieve preserve and promote Arab heritage, while providing a source of financial support to Jordanian women,” Abu Qaoud told The Jordan Times.

The project employs a number of Jordanian women and girls who design, sew and weave the dolls and their dresses. Madeena Dolls provides its employees with a source of income, in addition to raising their morale and showing their talents, Abu Qaoud said.

Foreigners who lived in Jordan for a period like to purchase the dolls as gifts “to remind them of the happy time they spent in Jordan” after they return to their home country, she added.

Traditionally, similar dolls were sewn by “our mothers and grandmothers in their homes”, Abu Qaoud noted. “We used to play with them when we were young. What I did was work on developing them without stripping them of their identity, and marketed them using contemporary technology in a way that enhances the heritage identity, both Jordanian and Palestinian”. 

Abu Qaoud expressed her aspiration for the Madeena Dolls project to grow and expand, “so that the heritage and identity of the homeland will continue for future generations”.