woodcutterDamcouldn’tafford tobuya
present forhisdaughterLila.Sohemade
asmall carved timberdollwithashockof
Icelandicsheep’swoolhair,modeled in
hisown image.Soon,Dam’sclientsstarted
noticing thedollwith itswildwoollen
coiffure,andordersbegan topour in.
“Hehadhisownpersonalvision
of trollsbeingsomethingdifferent
fromwhatpeopleconsidered
them tobe frommythology–ugly,
dangerousandbad luck,”says
Østergaard,who joinedDamThingsas
CEO in1997when thecompanywas“in
greatdifficulties”.
“His trollsweremeant tobekindand
makepeople laugh.Theyarea littlebitugly
butsomehowstillcuteandcuddly.When
I startedworking for thecompany, Iwas
oneof thevery fewpeople inScandinavia
never tohaveheardof theDam troll–but
youcan’thelpbut love them,and Iquickly
becamehooked.”
In1958,Dambegan
making thedolls
commerciallyunderhisnew
DamThingscompanyname.
The firstdollsweremade
in the family living
room fromhay-stuffed
latexand, the following
year, inasmall factory
frommoredurablePVC– the
plasticresponsible for thedistinctive
sweetsmellof the trolls.
»
“People thought Iwascrazy
to sell theseugly little things,
but theorderswerebeyond
ourwildest expectations”
Previous pages
⁄
Anoriginal Dam troll
from 1977,withhair
made from Icelandic
sheep’swool
Left
⁄
Thecreatorof the
good luck troll,
ThomasDam,with
oneof theoriginal
carved timber trolls
at hisworkshop in
Gjøl,Denmark
n
/039
