Lavender-tipped mohair frames a lavender nose and lavender paws. Dark eyes gaze out from a face that is at once innocent and old.
Such is the award-winning artistry of Sherry Kozil of Barrington Hills, a former hairdresser who parlayed her design skills into Guys & Dolls. Her thriving home-based business has annual sales of $30,000 to $60,000 and has taken her on an enviable journey to a warm, fuzzy world.
Kozil is a teddy bear artist with an international following at trade shows, in specialty shops and via direct mail, and is ranked among the leading artists.
“We commission 143 bear artists from all over the world, and she’s right up there,” said Faylee Hydorn, whose Rocking Horse Gallery in Fredericksburg, Va., carries exclusive editions of Kozil’s line. “She’s incredible with her clothing. Sherry herself is a beautiful dresser, and the bears resemble the way she dresses.”
You can also find Kozil bears at the Christmas Memories Shoppe in Lake Geneva, Wis. “I think she probably has the finest bears out there,” said owner Bob Munson of Barrington. “The quality of her work is what really differentiates them. It’s in the fur, the way it fluffs up, but the face is key, because each piece is a personality.”
Kathleen Webb, whose Naperville shop, Grin & Bear It, also offers Kozil bears, said she collected them prior to buying the business in 1997. “She’s quite well-known around the country,” said Webb, who lives in Aurora. “We have several of her bears; they are a lot like her — classy ladies.”
Kozil estimates she has designed and made 500 to 600 fully jointed, mohair teddy bears that start at about $150 and can go for more than $1,000 each, with an average price of $300. Collectors value not only the tag that gives the bear’s name but Kozil’s signature style.
“The goal is to create a teddy bear with a face that has so much expression it just captures a collector’s heart,” Kozil said. “When that happens, I guess that’s the ultimate accomplishment. I only use mohair because I think it’s the finest material. Given that I spend 8 to 14 hours on a bear, I’m looking to make a quality bear with workmanship that’s meticulous because I expect them to withstand time.
“The shells — arms, legs — are a lot alike, but like human beings, artist bears are all different,” Kozil said. “There’s a part of the artist that goes into their bears, that sets them apart. I like for my bears to have a very sweet, endearing kind of expression, almost inquisitive, happy, sort of giving out an expression of love.”
A collection of 400 teddy bears in her home office helps collector Kaye Lowman of Barrington breeze through her 12-hour days spent writing newsletters for area municipalities. Two of Kozil’s Coco Chanel bears grace the collection.
“They just have that haughty look,” Lowman said. “They are truly works of art in fur and fabric and extremely well-made with incredible detail you rarely see: little lined suits with shoulder pads and hats that are absolutely stunning.”
It took Kozil but four years to command such respect and inspire such delight.
Her story unfolds in the summer of 1993, when Kozil, enrolled in doll-making classes, spotted a magazine ad for a bear-making kit. “I ordered the kit, made the bear in January, and it was so ugly,” she said. But even though she was disappointed, Kozil said she had fun and so she decided to make a second bear.
Kozil no longer has that first unfortunate creature. “As I progressed, I couldn’t stand to look at it anymore,” she admitted.
Her third effort, a little golden bear with an oddly turned-in leg, still slouches on a shelf like a humble reminder. Humble, yes, but also significant because it was one bear more than the two dolls she had made, so it was a new road to follow.
“I realized this was something I could do on my own, something I could eventually design and make myself, and I didn’t need somebody else’s molds, ovens and extensive training,” Kozil said.
By the time she had made a half-dozen kit bears in April 1994, Kozil attended her first teddy bear show at the Schaumburg Marriott.
“Walking through that room, I had to keep hitting my chin to close my mouth,” she said. “I was totally in awe of the talent of the people displaying their bears, and I thought, `This is what I want to do when I grow up.’ “
Kozil then jumped onto the fast track. By the next month, she was taking an intensive two-day workshop in New Jersey taught by a professional artist. “The class made me want to develop my own style,” she said.
Back home, she contacted teddy bear show producer ABC Unlimited Productions in Flossmoor and committed to exhibiting her works at its October event. Kozil sold almost all of the 22 bears she had designed and made for the show, and this was no longer a hobby.
Throughout 1995, Kozil perfected her signature style. “They have a tendency to have large eyes and ears,” she said. “I make a pouty nose with contrasting color as opposed to traditional black. They’re contemporary unlike the traditional `real’ bear. Mine are more cuddly, childlike.”
In 1996, she took a four-day, silk ribbon embroidery class in Arlington Heights, where she learned the delicate art of French heirloom sewing, an advanced technique in which strips of lace are sewn together and inset onto the fabric of, in this case, a christening gown for one Margaret Anne.
Twenty-eight inches tall, this blond, curly mohair bear wears a long, flowing gown of white Swiss batiste inset with French lace. Margaret Anne is so special, she won one of Teddy Bear Review magazine’s 1996 Golden Teddy Awards. Surrounded by the other winners, her prototype appeared in angelic glory on the cover of the publication’s November/December 1996 issue.
“I thought she was special,” Kozil said. “My goal was to work hard enough on her to make sure she was. It was really something I hadn’t seen someone else do: a new bear with a new gown with antique-ish look to start so they would age together. Others will put an old gown on a new bear to get that effect.”
Shortly before the judges pronounced Margaret Anne a winner, Graham Newman of Great Falls, Va., fell in love with the bear when he saw Kozil’s ad in the magazine.
“My wife, Hilda, and I have been collectors for about 10 years; we have 120 to 150 bears,” he said. “I called Sherry. She said Margaret Anne was a limited edition of 25 and I could get the original. She told me how much (it was priced at $899), I swallowed twice, then said, `Fine,’ because there’s something about her that just tickled my fancy.”
Yet a third Margaret Anne is leading a charmed life at the Teddy Bear Museum in Naples, Fla. “Sherry and I got to talking at a show, and I said, `You’re not represented at the museum; you could always donate one of those,’ ” said museum director George Black Jr. “She did, and I had a special three-foot case made to show off the whole gown.”
The whirlwind year ended, and throughout 1997 and into 1998, Kozil focused on growing her business, which is slowly but surely transforming much of the upstairs of the home she shares with her husband, Don, and their golden retriever, Daisy.
Sherry’s new-found career has been a whirlwind for Don too.
“I knew she was creative,” said Don, “but I never imagined this . . .”
“He’s an eye surgeon,” countered his wife, “and he’s bragging about what I do . . .”
“But this is something on a different level. It makes people smile,” he said.
A typical workday lasts 10 hours, and it takes about that long to make a bear, plus another two for its outfit. This excludes what Kozil calls “deciding time.”
Kozil said her style has evolved from cozy to contemporary, although she continues to offer a nostalgic collection. Inspired by famous people and popular culture, Guys & Dolls offers dressed-to-kill Cocos, Bear Rodman and Totally Clueless (from the movie “Clueless”). Inspiration also comes from everyday life, such as the uptilt of a child’s head as it looks up from its stroller.
Kozil has other people do some sewing and stuffing tasks and purchases some clothing, but she does the head-sculpting herself. Once her bane, it’s now her pride, the aspect that defines her style.
Connie Brouillette of ABC Unlimited Productions in Flossmoor said Kozil’s look is distinctive and refined. “When you see it, you know it’s her style,” she said. “She does a shaven muzzle; she trims the fur so it’s very short or not there at all. She deep-sets the eyes, which gives more curvature to the face.”
To what does Kozil attribute her meteoric, four-year rise from hobbyist to artist? “I’m obsessed,” she laughed. “I guess I love what I’m doing.”
On the horizon, perhaps, is a small company with a few employees to keep up with demand; currently, she has about a four-month lead time. For now, though, this artist is holding the line on growth because of commitments to her husband’s practice as well as other considerations.
What’s more, the status quo is a good place to be. “I’m happy with it the way it is now,” she said, “and I do it out of love for doing it.”
THE FANCY BEAR
Why buy a Lexus when a Ford will do? In the teddy bear world, bottom line is all teddy bears are cute. But there are differences between artist bears and the manufactured variety:
– The artist bear is not a toy; in fact, it cannot be sold as such because its construction would violate government safety standards (the eyes lack safety locks).
– The artist bear is handmade, often with higher quality materials such as mohair. Many of the manufactured bears use acrylic.
– The artist bear is usually fully jointed, a more complex construction that heightens realism and its ability to be posed. Because it’s not just stuffed but packed, the artist bear is surprisingly weighty and dense, whereas the manufactured bear is more squeezable.
– The essential difference is hardest to define — that elusive aspect called personality. Often the facial expression of the artist bear conveys an emotion. It can be sadness, sweetness, aloofness or mischievousness.
– The manufactured bear can actually be more expensive. At recent auction, a 90-year-old Steiff bear commanded $127,000.
