Unexpected journey

Porcelain BJD « Ian McKellen » by Alenka Amicus

I never thought a porcelain doll would lead me to an unexpected meeting on a quiet London street — with Sir Ian McKellen himself.

In the summer of 2024, I began sculpting a figure that had been quietly growing in my heart for a long time. I wanted to create a porcelain doll that broke every rule of what people usually expect from the medium — not smooth perfection, but something real. Something with age in its posture, history in its face, and weight in its presence. A doll with a soul, not a smile.

Sir Ian became the natural choice. His face carries life — not just character, but presence. I didn’t want to sculpt “an actor.” I wanted to sculpt a person. And this person, this man, carries something remarkable in how he looks at the world. Creating his portrait in porcelain was my way of quietly saying thank you — not to Gandalf, but to Ian McKellen.

The project stretched across many months: from sculpting the original model, to casting, firing, sanding, painting, assembling, and finally sewing his outfit — a task I found far more difficult than shaping porcelain! I pored over reference photos: not only of Sir Ian, but of elderly men whose bodies echoed his build, and I obsessed over every detail. I even sculpted his hands by carving them out of cast blocks because they couldn’t be molded properly. It was laborious. It was beautiful.

When the doll was finally complete, I wanted to celebrate it somehow — not through a competition, but through a moment of quiet meaning. My photographer friend Polina Plotnikova suggested we take the doll to The Grapes — the historic pub co-owned by Sir Ian — and take a few photos just for ourselves. That night, my husband and I went for a walk to locate the pub. The street was quiet, the river glimmered under the streetlamps, and the pub — almost hidden — was behind us before we noticed.

And then, as we turned, I saw him.