Johanna Flanagan is a Scottish doll maker, costumiere and teacher. She studied Constructed Textiles at Duncan of Jordanstone college, then an MA in Fashion at the Royal College of Art. Throughout a career that meandered from catwalk, to film, to theatre, to historical costuming, Johanna always made dolls in secret, never really taking them seriously until her mid-thirties when she decided to bring them out of the shadows.

Johanna’s work is heavily influenced by the natural world, themes of decay and restoration, and is a deeply personal reflection of her own emotional world. Her design approach is often led by intuition and an instinctive response to materials and subject matter.

During this four-day workshop, we’ll be exploring free-form doll making. The focus will be on recognising the sparks and seeds of ideas, how to nurture them and then develop them into characters that reflect our thoughts, emotions and personal narratives. We’ll be working with collage, found objects, and a variety of free form doll making methods to create a collection of small dolls that are entirely personal and meaningful to you.