What do you get when you mix one part creativity, one part artistry, a healthy dose of love, and a whole bunch of natural talent? You have the perfect recipe for a successful miniature bear artist. You have Heike Boam, the creator of Heike Boam & Bears.
Situated in the beautiful Black Forest region of southwest Germany, Heike operates out of the comfort of her home in the city of Staufen. Staufen traces the beginning of its rich history back to the year 770 and is located near the borders of France and Switzerland.
Although Heike and I had been corresponding via email for some time, I wanted to visit with her in order to get this story and see firsthand some of her fantastically detailed creations for myself. My wife and I drove to Staufen and had the pleasure of meeting with Heike and her husband, Chris, who is from England. I actually had to talk Nicola into going with me because there's something about my driving that worries her. I have no idea what it could be though! Perhaps it's the autobahn with no speed limit or my uncanny ability to become easily distracted while driving. Whatever the reason, we arrived safe and sound.
Heike and her dog Chaka met us at our hotel that evening, and we made the short walk to her house. We had a delightful conversation with Heike and found that it was her lifelong love for arts and crafts that eventually led to the creation of Heike Boam & Bears. Ever since she was a little girl, Heike has always been involved with some type of crafting as well as drawing and painting. It's only natural that her talent led to something greater. It was in 1997 while she and Chris were living in Atlanta, Georgia that the bears came to be. While living in Atlanta, Heike sold homemade Christmas decorations made out of salt dough. In addition, she also made cloth dolls and child-size teddy bears that were sold at local arts and crafts shows. It was a telephone call from her mother in Germany that sparked the idea of the miniature bears. She was told of a radio interview involving a teddy bear artist in Germany who had won several awards for her miniature productions. Heike thought this was a marvelous idea and immediately packed up her sewing machine with which she had a love-hate relationship anyway and started hand-sewing her own miniature bears. She eventually met the artist from the radio interview, and they are now the best of friends.
The majority of Heike's bears are three to four inches in height and are 100% handmade. From her living room, she creates her works of art with her dogs resting comfortably at her feet and her cats curled up beside her. Due to the small size of the bears, the mohair fabric is skillfully assembled using only a needle and thread. It's simply impossible to use a sewing machine for the minute parts required to complete each piece. Heike actually prefers sewing by hand because she finds it very relaxing. On average, it takes her four to five hours to finish a simple bear that's not wearing any clothes. It can take up to a week to complete a fully clothed bear such as the historical bears that she makes. It is time consuming work, but Heike's love for what she's doing remains her driving force.
Although Heike has only been in the miniature bear business for a very short time, she's already won close to thirty awards from around the world and also has an international customer base, selling to people in twelve different countries. Her worldly success is a testament to her extreme talent and natural ability to create these meticulous works of art. I saw approximately twenty different bears at Heike's house, and each one truly was a masterpiece. The cream of the crop of her bears is the historical bear designed after Albert Einstein. Heike thoroughly researches every bear that's designed after an actual person in order to have it as true to life as possible. The Einstein bear won her the prestigious Toby Award and is currently on display at a teddy bear museum in South Korea. After viewing her displays at teddy bear shows that she's attended in numerous countries, representatives from museums in South Korea and Switzerland have commissioned her to create scenes for them to put on permanent display. This is quite an achievement for someone who's never had formal training in this type of work.
As I looked through Heike's selection of bears, I was astonished at each and every one of them. Their quality is superb, which speaks volumes for Heike's amazing skills. All the bears have moveable arms and legs since she makes them in the tradition of how the old teddy bears were made. It's hard enough to imagine making a 4-inch bear by hand, but then she showed me a bear cub that she made which was only two inches long. I handled each bear as if they were made out of the most fragile of materials for fear of destroying them, but their construction is topnotch and they're definitely built to last. With that said, Heike's bears are not meant as children's toys. They are collector's items only. While most of her bears are one-of-a-kind, she will create a maximum of six of certain kinds to fulfill her customer's needs. Heike was recently contacted by the Hermann Teddy Company, a large German manufacturer of collectible teddy bears. They were so impressed with her bears that they've purchased two of her designs and will produce them under licensed agreement in a very limited quantity. These two designs were introduced at the Nürnberg Toy Fair in February 2003.
Heike runs her business out of her home and meets the majority of her customers at the teddy bear shows that she attends around the world. All of these people are repeat customers and are more than satisfied with every purchase they make. She also maintains a website where people can contact her and do business that way as well. For more information about acquiring what is likely to be the most unique teddy bear you'll ever own, log on to http://heikeboam-bears.com.
Heike Boam is an artist with unequaled talent. They say some people are born with the natural abilities to do things that the rest of us can only dream about. Heike is one of those people and luckily for us, she shares her brilliant abilities through the creation of her tiny, lifelike masterpieces. Exciting times are certain in Heike's future and we wish her the utmost success!
