Victoria Kairis loved watching the Smurfs while growing up. Her favourite character was Azrael, the malicious wizard Gargamel’s long-suffering cat, with Smurfette as a close second. So when she was asked to design the Smurfs in crochet-form, she made sure she did it to the best of her ability. Victoria worked tirelessly to craft the Smurfs’ proportions perfectly, making and remaking the dolls until they looked just like the Smurfs she watched on TV as a child. To celebrate her hard work, we spoke toVictoria about her life as a passionate – and talented – amigurumi designer.
Though she’s now a skilled amigurumi designer with impeccable technical skills, Victoria didn’t even know what crochet was until she was in her 20s. “I was on holiday and found the cutest little bookshop,” Victoria says. “I really wanted to support the small business, so I headed over to the craft section and chose something to buy. It happened to be a crochet book, and that’s what started everything.”