Rachel Briscoe Photo Wayne Martin
All dolled up – CLEVER MUM BRUSHES UP ON BUSINESS With each carefully designed Pearl Doll there comes a tale of longevity, hidden meaning and family tradition, for which creator Rachel Briscoe holds the secret. HELEN PERRY talked to this thoughtful mum and business entrepreneur about the manufacturing journey which began on behalf of her daughter, Jemima.
14 | eastlife | november 2019
“I called them Pearl Dolls because my middle name is Margaret which means ‘pearl’; it is also my mother and my grandmother’s name so the world ‘pearl’ brings a sense of longevity and family to the brand which I hope suggests these dolls can be a generational.
Most little girls love dolls – they revel in dressing and undressing them, ‘feeding’ them, putting them to bed and, most of all brushing their hair. Unfortunately, not all little dolls stand up to the task.
withstand the rigorous play of a pre-schooler and not collapse within a few months. Despite looking long and hard I just couldn’t find what I wanted in New Zealand.
So, when four-year-old Jemima Briscoe’s nurturing instincts started to emerge and dolls became a passion, her mum, Rachel was soon set on a path to find a doll made from quality materials and had long, lush hair which didn’t frizz with the first touch of a brush.
“Mattel [USA firm] came closest but didn’t ship to here and although I did find one in Australia I continued the search in New Zealand.
“Jemima had some birthday money she wanted to spend on a doll she had seen locally,” the Howick mother explains. “I wasn’t happy with the quality and decided I would add to her purse so she could buy a doll, which would
Then I starting thinking, ‘I like dolls, I can design one of these and have it made.’ I especially wanted to create a pretty but robust doll, suitable for daily play but which would go the distance, endure into adulthood and then be passed down. For example, I still have dolls from my childhood as does my mother and we still cherish them.”
While there was plenty of research to be done, coming up with a name for her doll range was easy. “I called them Pearl Dolls because my middle name is Margaret which means ‘pearl’; it is also my mother and my grandmother’s name so the word ‘pearl’ brings a sense of longevity and family to the brand which I hope suggests these dolls can be a generational. “Dolls are a great way for children to role play, use their imagination and learn nurturing skills so, I wanted my dolls to be as realistic as possible. I also believe that by playing with dolls of a different skin colour, children can learn to relate to real people of different skin colours which is why one is brown-skinned.”
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