It has been announced that the Tonner Doll Company is no more. The website closed down at the end of December. Yesterday the company sent a message out:
" I
was lucky enough to start Tonner Doll at a point when it seemed that
everyone was collecting, making, buying or selling dolls. At the same
time, the Far East was willing and eager to produce whatever we wanted
at a price that couldn’t be beat. High demand and inexpensive,
quality production led to the golden age of collectible dolls and great
success for Tonner Doll...the business model that I used to build Tonner Doll is no longer viable or sustainable."
I was curious when, late last year, I received an email from a company named Phyn and Aero,advertising the new Patience doll. The doll wasn't available on the Wilde Imagination site. (Tonner's other doll site.) That was explained in the email too.
"Through
Phyn and Aero, I’ll be working directly with our favorite retailers to
create unique and exclusive dolls (look for the first Ellowyne out this
Spring). I will continue to design for and attend events throughout
the year (Dollology, Shaker Doll Club, Doll Circle and UFDC to name a
few). At Phyn and Aero I will also continue to develop new product;
we’ll be doing small batch, design driven products. Rayne, a new
character with unique (and I mean unique) accessories will debut around
Toy Fair."
Robert Tonner also said he'll be working on projects for other companies too. So for those of you who are fans of Robert Tonner's dolls,there will still be new dolls.
So there you have it. You can see the Phyn and Areo site HERE. For those of you keeping track of old collections,the Wilde Imaginations archive has moved to Phyn and Areo too,although it doesn't seem to have anything there right now.
Don't forget to check out today's Doll-A-Day too.