Maria Jose Santos was born in Barcelona (Spain) in 1972. She works under the name of “Carabosse Dolls”, whose name is taken from the wicked fairy in the tale and the ballet “The Sleeping Beauty” by Tchaicovsky.
Maria Jose studied in the University of Oviedo, where she took a degree in law and specialized in urban planning. After several years collaborating in an architect studio and devoting her spare time to her hobby, miniature dolls, she finally left the legal profession to be a fulltime doll maker.
She felt attracted to miniatures not only as an entertainment, but also as an art and a way to acquire and popularize knowledge about the History and customs of our society, as well as other cultures.
She was captivated by the perfect miniature replicas of old buildings and palaces, antique pieces of furniture… and saw miniature dolls as a wonderful way to combine her passion for art, historical fashion and ballet. She began the creation of dolls in 1997 after attending a class in antique dolls reproduction, where she learned the classical techniques of pouring, polishing and baking of porcelain and painting with china paints. After several months of self-taught training in sculpture, miniature painting, modeling of moulds and confection of costumes and accessories, her first doll was born.