The Story of Christine Bohm
I was born in 1952 in the little town of Sonneberg which
lies at the southern end of the Thuringian forest in Eastern Germany near to the border
with Bavaria. This year, Sonneberg celebrates its 650th. birthday. At the beginning of this
century my home town was well known for its doll and toy industry. Dolls and toys
were exported to many states of the world, especially the United States of America.
During the years of Socialist rule after the Second World War, all private factories
were expropriated and were amalgamated into large associations. Now, most of these
have closed down, but a lot of small firms have begun again the old
traditions and I hope that we can keep our name - Sonneberg the City of Toys!
After school, I started an apprenticeship as a clerk, but this was not interesting
enough for me. So I did my school-leaving examination at evening classes and then
studied at Erfurt (the capital of Thuringia) to become a teacher of German Language
and Art. Later, I lived in Berlin for some years and there met my husband.
I returned to Sonneberg and studied for three years at the School for Toy Design.
This school was, and is, the only such school in Germany. After completing my studies
in 1982, I worked until 1988 as a designer at the Institute for Toys in Sonneberg and
then became a freelance doll maker. Some years I mostly designed plush animals for a
toy factory, but now I only make dolls and clothes. When I was a child, I started to
make clothes for my dolls and later on for myself and my family. I now have a creative
job and my only wish is that I could have more time to realise all my ideas for doll
making.
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