Comparative Study On Design Of Folk Dolls And Modern Dolls

This thesis takes the Chinese folk toys as the researching target. The aim is to find out the way to improve the development of the Chinese folk dolls and to give an impulse to the toy design industry in China with the help of analysis on the definition, evolution and current situation of the Chinese folk dolls. In modern society, the development of the Chinese folk dolls is more and more difficult, whereas the modern dolls develop more and more faster and have become a trend. Comparing the Chinese folk dolls to the modern dolls will help us discover the existing issues of the Chinese folk dolls so as to integrate them into the current of mass-consumption.After a comprehensive research of the design elements of the Chinese folk dolls and the modern dolls, we find out that the folk dolls show distinctive folk characteristics on three levels, which are appearance, behavior and spirit. These characteristics are not only shown through the shape style, but also through the Chinese traditional entertaining behavior and the spirit of craftsmanship. Among these characteristics, there are some elements provide the inspiration for modern design, while others remain backward and need to be refined. Based on this, we combine the development trends of modern doll design to propose practicable principles and methods, which help us to integrate the characteristics of folk dolls into the modern industrial design methods and process. Inject some modern design elements into the folk dolls so as to redesign them rationally.The methods of comparative study and case study are mainly used in this thesis. We summarize the relevancy and difference between folk dolls and modern dolls with the aim to find out the characteristics that need to be inherited and developed, as well as to solve the existing issues that make the folk dolls backward. The fundamental objective of this research is to inherit and develop the folk dolls, as well as to boost the development of the Chinese style dolls, by combining the characteristics of it with modern design elements.