Brooklyn woman turns people (and the Kardashians) into portrait dolls

WILLIAMSBURG (WABC) -- Celine Choi started making little felt characters for fun, but her focus shifted when a friend's granddaughter asked her to make a doll.

"I had so much joy from making this doll for her that I fell in love with doll making and voila," Choi said.

That was 3 years ago and now Celine's dolls is a viable business that she runs out of Williamsburg.

Each doll is unique because they're inspired by the people who order them.

Customers fill out a questionnaire and share photos.

"It's not like I deliver a doll. I really involve them in the process," she said.

Along the way, she has received a few celebrity orders including Kourtney Kardashian and her family, and that led to a recent order of Kim Kardashian, Kanye West and their baby, North.

"Everyone knows Paris is a special place to them, so I used a vintage Paris glamour print and it had a lot of detail," she explained.

That was for North's dress. And for Kanye?

"It's faux fur, faux leather, softest faux mink I've ever found," Celine said.

Even the sneakers are so Kanye, and as for Kim, she's a little curvier.

"I did make her some hips,"

Celine doesn't use patterns and buys small amounts of fabric at a time.

She's also conscientious about ethnicity, perhaps because she's biracial.

"A lot of my clients are Hispanic or biracial because it seems like the market is missing this," she said. "I use different skin tones because we are all unique and one of a kind, and I try to get the closest match."

Whether the doll is for a child or a celebrity,
Celine says there's always pressure to get it right.

"There's an anxiety and it's perfect and I show it to the client and it's perfect," Celine said.

You can learn more about Celine's dolls by visiting her website www.celinesdolls.com