Willow Tree Figurines and Angels

The very first Willow Tree figurine was made in 1999, within the last decade their popularity has dramatically increased and they are now being sold worldwide to avid collectors.

Susan Lordi, the artist who created the line of figurines, says that one of the sources that inspired her came from the Amish communities where, because of religious observance, dolls were made without facial features for the children.

There is an argument that books are better than movies because you are forced to use your imagination which is a lot more powerful than what can be depicted physically in front of you. Susan found similarly with these dolls that without the facial features to reflect emotion the viewer would have to use their imagination to give the doll emotion and that is exactly what she created with Willow Tree figurines.

She concentrates on creating figurines that will invoke strong emotions in people like love, happiness, nostalgia, joy and so on. She creates these reactions by coming up with certain poses that are highly representative of those emotions and then hand-crafting the figurines into those poses in a simple and elegant style.

She hand-crafts every single original figurine herself with specialized sculpting clay before they are sent off to China. From there her original creations are cast in resin which allows them to be duplicated many times over, then they are hand painted precisely as Susan had painted her originals. From China they are shipped all over the world to retailers ready to sell to the ever growing fanbase of Willow Tree consumers.

Because of this method of reproducing the figurines they are able to be made at an incredibly low cost which results in a collection of stunning figurines that all look completely hand-crafted and sell cheap enough for anyone to become a collector. Also, because there is such a large range now with new sculptures coming out every year, there are figurines made for every emotion you would like to remember and others to give as gifts to enforce any and every special relationship you once or still have.

With this cheap method of production I’m sure we have a lot more magnificent designs to come from Susan as she continues to be inspired to make her creations. If anyone wants to share a figurine they’re hoping to be made just leave a comment and let us know, we’d love to hear what you think!

One of the most defining features of Willow Tree Figurines is of course the lack of facial features and thus expressions on the sculptures faces. This means that each figurines body language is of great importance to each piece and what it represents.

The poses the figurines are crafted into are very purposeful to be definitive of the relationship or emotion it is attempting to portray, of course this will vary from person to person but the general idea is universal. For example the figurine “Angel of Mine” portrays a mother lovingly holding her baby under her chin, which will mean something different for a child and a mother, but to both it will represent a pure and great love.

Many, if not all of the sculptures poses are as simple as this one but I’ll repeat what I said in my first post: it’s all about simplicity. This simple act of cradling a baby close to your chest, nestling its head under your cheek is a very strong example of body language because it so inherently portrays love in such a pure form.

Not every piece is meant to portray a relationship though, there are several that show single figurines that are representative of different emotions. One example is “Free Spirit” in which the figurine has been carved in what looks to be the midst of swaying around carelessly. Holding one hand in the other beneath its cheek, elbows poised in the air, the pose suggests such freeness, happiness and love of life. This is another very simple pose that portrays such a huge emotion in quite a particular way.

One more variation that can be found in some Willow Tree figurines are pieces that involve animals or objects. Although a lot can be said within just a simple pose, with the use of an animal or object so much more can be implied through the symbolism.

A quote from Susan Lordi, creator of Willow Tree:

“I like to use animals or objects from nature, which can be metaphors for human experiences…rosemary for remembrance, a bird for healing, flowers for beauty.  These items can mean different things to different viewers.  I try to give each piece another level of meaning that’s not always obvious — that the viewer can sense or imagine.”

With the piece called “Happiness” the figurine has her arms wide open, face looking up, hair flowing back in the wind and sitting on her open arms are some bluebirds ready to take flight. This piece screams “FREEDOM!” louder than Braveheart with the aid of the symbolism of the birds.

There are so many examples of symbolism throughout the pieces to enjoy and interpret, leave a comment and tell me some of your favorite uses of it!

First of all – what are Willow Tree figurines? Well, plainly put they’re just a collection of simple, hand-crafted figurines, but they are so much more than that! These sculptures epitomize the depths of human emotion, they explore the relationships that we have with everyone in our lives and summarize them into small, static representations that invoke the feelings we have for them.

The creator of these figurines goes by the name of Susan Lordi who hand-crafts every single sculpture herself. She wasn’t always a sculptor though, she has a Master of Fine Arts in Textile Design and her fiber art has been shown all over the world so when she began making Willow Tree figurines it was a huge change of direction for her!

So how can such simple designs and colors come together to invoke such strong personal emotions? The thing is, the figurines aren’t made simple-looking because they’re easier to sculpt. If Susan thought that carving facial expressions onto them would enhance the quality of the pieces then she would have done so. It’s all about simplicity, without facial expressions it’s up to the body language of the figurine to tell the story of its circumstance and that’s what makes it so powerful.

These aren’t little character figurines, these are figurines of emotions and relationships and human circumstances, to put a facial expression on them would be to turn them into characters. They aren’t characters, they are us. They are me, they are you, they are everyone in the world, they’re the human race in its most simple form.

When you see a Willow Tree figurine that applies to a relationship you have in your life, you imagine that the sculptures are of you. You put your faces on them and it serves as a constant reminder of that relationship and the way it makes you feel. It is a subconscious act but one that everyone does when they see an applicable piece, and that’s where the popularity lies.

When someone purchases a Willow Tree figurine they are effectively buying a figurine of themselves and/or a loved one, family member, friend or anyone they have known in their life. It’s the vague equivalent of Christian Bale buying a Batman figurine. They have the power to be so personal to an individual because they’re not just decorations, they’re the parts of your life that keep you going!