Words by Shabnam Nuhuman
Most of the dolls I saw growing up were imported. I never once saw a doll that reflected my brown skin, my long dark hair, dark eyes, or the facial features of the women around me, my family, friends, or the community I grew up in and loved. I wasn’t feeling bad at the time, I just didn’t realise there was another choice.
The dolls were lovely, but they all appeared the same: light skin, blue eyes, blonde hair, and European-style plastic dolls. There were also local handmade rag dolls. As a child, they were made with spare fabrics and freely available resources. All children accepted them without question – you use what’s available. However, looking back, I understand that something important was lacking. They were practical and familiar, but they were not created to reflect identity or representation.
Australia is multicultural and vibrant, but as a woman of colour, I often had to find my way through spaces where I was both seen and unseen at the same time. Mispronounced names, assumptions, and the familiar question of where I was really from were all present. Even though these moments are often subtle, they leave an impression and serve as a reminder of how powerful it is to be genuinely seen.
Along the way, I had the good fortune of meeting amazing groups of women who had gone through similar experiences. Through those connections, I realised how important representation and belonging truly are. I didn’t want children to feel like they had to justify their identity or their place in the world as they grew up. From the start, I wanted them to feel familiar and included. So, when I found myself working in the toy industry, I knew what I had to do.
In many respects, Mini Colettos dolls are a response to those experiences, a way of creating spaces where visibility is effortless, diversity is embraced, and every child knows they belong in the story.
The creation of Mini Colettos began with a simple but meaningful vision- to create an Australian-owned and designed doll brand that celebrates diversity and encourages imaginative play while reflecting the real, diverse world children grow up in.
My background deeply shaped this vision. My own childhood, along with my experience in early childhood education, showed me how vital emotional connection is in children’s play.
A child’s first ‘friend’, and one of their earliest tools for imagination, is often a doll. In my view, diversity should never be a ‘special edition’. The real world is beautifully diverse, and children deserve toys that reflect that reality naturally and effortlessly. That’s why it felt essential for Mini Colettos to represent a wide range of people of colour.
I wanted children from all backgrounds to grow up seeing differences as something normal and beautiful.
Children develop acceptance, empathy, and pride when they play with dolls that resemble or differ from them. They discover without being told that everyone has a place in the story.
To me, Mini Colettos is about healing, recognition, and belonging – for generations to come, and for the inner child in so many of us who never had that representation growing up.
Creating Mini Colettos became a deeply personal journey. Including a wide range of ethnicities was never about ticking boxes; it was about truth. I was genuinely surprised by how therapeutic it felt to watch these dolls come to life, brown-skinned, dark-eyed dolls that felt familiar in a way I had never experienced as a child.
In many ways, it felt like finally offering that younger version of myself what she had been missing all along.
