by Debora Hoffmann

The bear beginnings
I have always loved stuffed animals and cuddly things, especially teddy bears. When I was small, probably about 8 years old, I sewed and stuffed a golden velour happy face pillow to give to my little sister. That must have started it all, way back then.

Quite a collection of stuffed animals accumulated in my room during childhood, and it was in 1981 in junior high school that I had my humble bear beginnings. A class project instructed us to be creative and make something on our own. I painted a wooden Santa's workshop (with Mom's help) and designed and made two teddy bears (one felt, one velour). With their skinny bodies and stick-straight limbs, those bears could have passed for folk art long before being recognized as teddy bears!

A few years later, my mom gave me an antique teddy bear as a present, and the bear collecting fever took hold. In the late 1980s, I made quite a few synthetic plush teddies with the patterns from a book, but was not entirely satisfied with the results. Teddy bear making took a hiatus while I earned a bachelor of fine arts in graphic design. It was not until the early '90s that I became aware of artist-designed mohair teddy bears and started collecting them; a few years later, I took a bear-making class at a teddy bear convention and was instantly hooked.

In 1996 I designed my first teddy bear pattern and made Madeleine out of synthetic plush "fur." I used mohair on my next creation, and found it was so much easier to cut, sew, turn, stuff... Soon after, I decided to call my bears (and my future small business) New Avenue Crew, after New Avenue, the name of the street where I grew up.

The road to a bear business
Since that first plush teddy bear, there have been more designs and more bears. Because I love my full-time job as a proofreader in advertising, I make very few bears each year. I juggle work, bears, and my husband and household on a daily basis, and I love it. And Garth, my husband, is understanding of my artistic drive, because he is a photographer and painter! (See Garth's drawing of my former "studio" below. It's a sketch of my spot in the corner of our living room when we lived in Costa Mesa, California.)

In summer 2000, I waded through the process of making New Avenue Crew into a small business. Though I'm no longer a small business, I will likely become one again if I can produce bears!

Note: For many years, I was in self-imposed hibernation because my time was taken with many other commitments. Recently, I have been very much desiring to work on my bears again, and I have plans to focus on creating new designs and on completing more Crew members in 2008. I am eager to offer my new creations for adoption, and I hope you'll be pleased with them!

The bear facts
Each Crew member is designed and made by me alone--in my "studio" on our dining room table. I use only the finest furs--German mohair by Schulte, alpaca, or German synthetic--and ultrasuede, traditional wool felt, or mini upholstery fabric for the paw pads. The bears--and a couple of cats and even a pig!--are fully jointed and range from 5-3/4 to 17 inches so far. I prefer to leave most of my bears bare because I love the look of the fur and the body character, and I consider them bears, not dolls. I have made a few Crew members with outfits built into their design. You may eventually see a few bears with cardigans or overalls or that special something. Now if only I could learn to make clothes...

Because I started out as a collector, I know that a bear can "speak" to the right person, and how a person is--perhaps without knowing it--on the lookout for just the right bear. With this in mind, I constantly strive to create that bear. Maybe someone had a well-loved childhood bear that has since been lost, or maybe they've never had a bear. I hope that the Crew members will remind people of their own childhood teddies, or even of people they know!

The Crew members and I hope you enjoy your visit and that you'll come back soon. Let us know you've been here by visiting the contact page and sending an e-mail!