National doll art-crafting of Saint Petersburg «Poteshny promysel»

The article contains first published history and description of the doll handicraft «Poteshny promysel», that officially began in Sankt Petersburg in the early 1990s and continues to develop and expand today.The author makes the brief review of traditional toy arts and crafts in Sankt Petersburg and Leningrad region, designates features and factors of its emergence and describes characteristic distinctive features. In the article production and technological process of production of sou- venir dolls is shown and the organizational structure, the concept and the principles of work of the company is analyzed. The author also reveals stages of its formation and expansion. The question of effective use of products, its utilitarian and esthetic functions is brought up. The special attention is paid to establishment of the St. - Petersburg museum of dolls, created on the basis of production and which became the guarantor of his preservation and further high-quality growth. Sankt Petersburg as the large and multifaceted tourist destination of the international level, rich with attractive cultural and historical objects, is the most powerful impulse in design of tourist products. Among them are the souvenir products of local manufacturing, which characterize the city’s image, its style and mentality. The porcelain dolls of «Poteshny promysel» in national, military and other historical suits are made in style and traditions of the region and presented in an exposition of the Sankt Petersburg museum of dolls and the main gift shops. In such a way, they create an unusual new legend and the original tourist brand «The City of Dolls - Sankt Petersburg».