Anya Nazarenko
I started making toys before I could think coherently. At the age of three, I was already making dragonflies and beetles from clothespins. Perhaps this is my destiny. I don't mind, it's a good destiny, I don't fight it and just follow my heart and make toys. When I work, I fall into a pleasant trance.
The most touching episode was connected with the first years of work, when a customer lost a sleeping teddy bear and pasted up flyers with photos around her neighborhood. A few days later, a little girl with her mother came to her, they found the teddy bear. The girl fell in love with it very much and at school she didn't even exchange it for a 'real Barbie'. And my customer gave the teddy bear to the girl. This story has warmed my heart for many years.