By Peter Berton

EVENS MILLS, NY – “Large enough to fully enjoy, small enough to conceal.” That’s the tag line for Virgin Rose Dolls. The creator describes the 32-inch-tall poppets as “high-end female sex dolls that combine realistic breasts and genitalia with anime-style features and anatomy.”

Because of their petite stature, Virgin Roses easily can be stored out of sight when not needed for companionship. Allen, a spokesman for the manufacturer, said the dolls bridge a gap between real-life women and anime fantasies…with durable, full-sized “good parts.”

YNOT.com: In most respects, Virgin Roses are much smaller than the average human female, yet the manufacturer chose to exaggerate some features. Why?

Allen: Since our current line of dolls are so conveniently small, it was important to oversize certain portions of the doll such as the head as well as features, including eyes, lips, breasts and, of course, the private areas.

We didn’t want to stick with human proportions because of the size — those areas would have been too small for her scale — so we enlarged them and made those enlargements appealing by cartooning them just enough. Interestingly, many potential customers ask if the dolls are full-size, because they do look it.

Who is your target market?

Our target market includes and reaches beyond anime lovers. We receive many inquiries from people looking for a wide variety of looks, and our dolls can lean toward many of those with the proper finishing.

Why build a bridge between the two rather than choosing real life or anime?

We knew if we only had an anime-style doll we would be limiting our market, and a proportionately accurate human doll of the same size would have had too small a face; private areas, as well.

We decided to sculpt the doll with a face that could be easily transformed into any ethnicity with skin-tone, makeup alterations, positioning of brows, eye color and wig style. This was decided prior to the first design, and although our dolls’ base design is neither pure anime or human in appearance, we believe it touches enough on both to be very appealing to the majority of customers looking for a smaller-than-life-size doll.

How did your company get started?

With a background in mold-making, prop design and creature building, along with a keen interest in the female form artistically, it seemed like there was a market for a doll that wasn’t just another silicone doll, but a bit more artsy and hopefully sexy, as well. There was a real desire in looking for a way to bring this kind of feminine ideal into being.

Part of this was to address the size and weight issues common with full-size dolls. From there, it was plenty of planning and many hours of design work which led to the creation of our first doll and silicone companion business.

How do you make the dolls?

We use platinum silicone, which is a much higher quality of silicone; however, it’s also the most expensive. We don’t like to make mistakes with that, so we carefully tint the mixture to the right color and opacity.

Dolls requiring a skeletal system have those batch poured into molds using high-impact, flexible plastic. After curing, the parts are heated to increase durability, then assembled into the final skeleton consisting of more than 40 separate moving parts. The skeleton is painstakingly suspended in the mold after several other proprietary steps, and the mold is sealed and poured.

Once cured, the silicone blank is removed, trimmed, detailed and sent into final detailing, where makeup, eyes and eye lashes are applied. Finally, she will be fitted with clothing and the appropriate wig. All of this is considerably labor intensive, so none of the steps can be rushed.

What makes your dolls stand out from your competition?

There are a lot of great doll companies out there, and each one has behind it very talented people for whom we have great respect. With that in mind, I believe every company has a product quite different. There are proprietary design and production methods that each may want to protect, and with good reason, so I’ll comment on the final product we produce.

Our doll design is sculpted with the feminine ideal in mind with the help of fantastic photographic references from live models. Each and every detail is captured, leaving out anything unnecessary to the desired effect. Our dolls are a bit enhanced in proportion, with a very large rear-end and hips and a nice level of athletic fitness.

The body is a full-grown-style female and realistic enough to appeal to customers looking for a woman instead of a toy. The entry points are full-size capable, and the overall size and weight are easy to handle, clean and care for. No hernias!

What we do that I think really stands out is we spend a great deal of time detailing our dolls to make sure the colors are natural and as realistic as possible — especially the genitalia. We don’t rush anything, and our customers can tell. They take the time to thank us when they receive their doll and compliment the work we do. In the busy society we live in today, that’s a great indication we’re doing it right.

What advances have you made in your dolls, and what are you hoping to do in the future?

We use a softer mixture of silicone now than we did originally. We also use an even softer mix for the genitalia and breasts.

The skeletal system has been redesigned twice and is really quite well made. We’re working on bringing new designs to our customers and definitely have some surprises in store over the next year.

Will you produce male dolls in the future, as well?

Yes, we do have plans to produce a male doll in the future and have received quite a few requests for that. There are already some very interesting designs in the works.

How have your sales grown over time?

Amazingly! We started with one mold and quickly found one was not enough.

The convenient size and capacity seemed very popular, but we think a lot of our success has to do with the original design and her appearance. We also believe customer service is very important. That aspect of our company has kept us growing, as well.