Tidings of Comfort & Joy - Ashton-Drake Holiday 2021

Master Doll Artist Ping Lau is the designer and sculptor behind several award-winning collectible dolls only available from The Ashton-Drake Galleries. Raised and educated in Singapore, Lau now resides in the Washington, D.C. area.

A lifelong painter and illustrator, Lau began sculpting dolls in 1989. She was always fascinated with dolls, and was inspired after connecting with other artists who treated dolls as an art form. In her efforts to accurately recreate the human form in three dimensions, Lau began experimenting with a variety of materials. With each sculpt, Lau captures the joyous spirit of children through amazingly expressive features and meticulous attention to detail. Lau said that her goal is always to create a doll that delights adults and children alike.

“I believe the doll should have warmth and inspire love,” Lau said.

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Lau also strives to share and celebrate the beauty and diversity of children from all over the world with Western collectors, especially the children of her Asian background.

“To bridge cultures and to bring the world a little closer together, especially through the wonderfully joyous medium of doll art was, I felt, something more than worthwhile for me to pursue,” Lau explained.

A great example of Lau’s artistry can be seen in Ava Elise, the 2017 winner of Such a Doll™ Baby Photo Contest of The Ashton-Drake Galleries. Lau perfectly captured her sweet wide-eyed expression of innocence. Ava Elise’s facial features are strikingly identical to her real-life inspiration, from her beautiful blue-gray eyes, down to her sweet tiny toes.

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Lau’s other creations include a touch-activated, crawling baby girl doll; a bilingual doll who speaks both French and English; and a pair of anatomically correct baby girl and baby boy dolls.

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Lau continues to be an active force in the collectible doll industry, and strives to sculpt ever more realistically styled dolls from more different cultures. “It is such a privilege to be able to do my part in bringing people together to make the world just a little happier,” Lau said.

While not hard at work sculpting her next creation, Lau enjoys nature, gardening, hiking with her dogs, attending opera and traveling the world looking for her next inspiration.