La Lucia local makes teddies with her bear hands

FOR the past two decades La Lucia resident Dianne Sturgess has been hand-making teddy bears. The 66 year-old got involved in the craft after she began helping her mother Eunice Beaton (90) in her teddy-making business.

“My mother first started making bears by hand as a hobby in 1984. She then began making them as gifts for people, which turned into her taking them to markets, until it grew and she decided to open her own business ten years later,” she said.

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The difference between the bears Sturgess makes and those in the store, is that she makes them by hand in the traditional style.

“Modern mass-produced teddies are sewn together at the joints. They’re also made with synthetic stuffing and fur as well as plastic eyes for child-safety. The traditional, older bears were made with hand-blown glass eyes, mohair for the fur and articulated joints so that the limbs are separate from the body like a movable doll’s. This means I make each part of the teddy individually before finally assembling it,” said Sturgess.

The La Lucia local says she also repairs the traditional teddy bears, for people who have had them for decades, and want to pass them on as an heirloom to their children or grandchildren.

“The oldest one I have is from about the 1930s. I think people want bears restored for sentimental reasons. That is why we love them. They’re often our trusted and faithful companions from the our youngest days, with whom we share moments of pain and fear, and tell our deepest secrets,” Sturgess said.

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Sturgess along with about 12 other women meet once a month to make teddy bears the traditional way. At each gathering the group members make a blind donation and at the end of the year tally the donations to give to the South African Guide Dog Association, with the contribution going toward buying a guide dog. She said the group has been meeting since 2001.

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