Special Roundtable Talk: The “Gaga Doll” Project

The Secret Project: Who Were We Making?
Designer T: The Gaga-doll project had specific roles: Art Director O handled production management, Makeup Director K was in charge of makeup, Posing Director K did posing, and I handled the sculpting, right?
Art O: That’s correct. I was responsible for the overall project management.
Designer T: I recall the initial request even kept “who we were making” a secret.
Art O: Exactly. We were approached by the Creative Agency. They started by asking if it was realistically possible, keeping the subject secret.
Designer T: Once we confirmed feasibility regarding budget and timeline, the specifics were revealed, and we finally learned what the project was.
Art O: It was a unique concept for Lady Gaga: a “Life-Sized Listening Device.” The plan was to incorporate a bone conduction system into a doll made by Orient Industry. Pressing your ear to the doll’s chest would let you listen to Lady Gaga’s music and messages through vibration.
Makeup K: But the production schedule was incredibly tight, right?
Designer T: The actual sculpting time was barely 10 days, so yes, extremely tight. We initially hesitated, but understood the project would be scrapped if we didn’t take it. There was a risk that even if we delivered quickly, the result would reflect on Orient Industry’s reputation. But we decided to take the challenge. It seemed like a fun project that would generate buzz.
Art O: It was completely different from Orient Industry’s usual products. The core concept of listening via bone conduction and the purpose – sales promotion – were unique.
Posing K: The finished doll’s quality was phenomenal, though.
Designer T: That said, I didn’t feel extra pressure just because it was a global superstar. Whether it’s creating a doll from photos of a deceased wife or a mega-star, once you start sculpting, the process feels the same.

Clearing the High Bar with a Crazy Love Doll Project
Makeup K: What was the original trigger for this project again?
Art O: A Music Company wanted to do a promotion for Lady Gaga’s visit to Japan. They partnered with a Creative Agency, who came up with the idea of doing something interesting using Orient Industry’s dolls.
Designer T: But normally, getting approval from Gaga’s US team (Gaga-side) isn’t easy. Apparently, countless ideas for Lady Gaga flood in worldwide, but the bar is set incredibly high, and most get rejected outright at the proposal stage.
Art O: So, when the Music Company pitched this idea stateside, the reaction was basically, “What is this crazy idea?!” But somehow, it got approved.
Designer T: I guess they found the love doll angle amusing.
Art O: It seemed the sheer craziness got the initial OK, and that’s how the project started.
Posing K: Orient Industry makes so-called Dutch wives, but externally, people seem to view us as a fantasy-driven, funky company.
Art O: However, that initial OK just meant we could develop the idea, not that we had final approval to proceed with production.
Designer T: Getting the final production green light took significant time.
Makeup K: The production window was short, and the final approval kept dragging. We were on edge, worried the whole thing might collapse.

The Moment of True Approval
Art O: The critical point was that even when the doll was finished, and on the very day Gaga arrived in Japan, we still didn’t have final approval.
Posing K: We had set up a surprise at a Tokyo hotel timed with her arrival. We rented a suite just to display the Gaga-doll. The whole team was there, perfectly prepped. The plan was for her to stop by the hotel directly after landing in Japan.
Designer T: The strategy was: if she liked it upon seeing it in person, we’d get the final OK.
Posing K: But that day, we were told she was too tired to see it.
Art O: It was a huge project involving significant money and manpower, but without her personal approval, we couldn’t publicly reveal the doll.

Gaga’s Japan Visit! The Surprise Outcome?
Posing K: At that moment, it truly felt like “we did our best and left the rest to fate.”
Art O: The arrival day surprise didn’t happen, but she saw it later and absolutely loved it. The moment Lady Gaga tweeted a picture of herself with the Gaga-doll, it signified approval. Everyone involved celebrated together then.
Designer T: I heard her father saw it first and gave the green light to show his daughter.
Art O: During the presentation in the hotel room, not only Gaga herself but her US team closely examined the doll. They apparently noticed and were impressed by meticulous details, like the subtle raised texture of beauty marks created with makeup. Gaga later said at a press conference that when she first saw the doll, everyone went wild, talking excitedly and taking commemorative photos. At first, the doll was just a tool in that space, but soon everyone was captivated by it. Unnoticed, it became the centerpiece. She credited this transformation to the power of art.

The Struggle of Redoing the Hairstyle
Posing K: The Gaga-doll’s hair was a major point of focus. But even after the makeup team painstakingly implanted each hair strand individually, some had to be redone.
Makeup K: Oh yeah, that happened.
Posing K: The initial hairstyle was a wild, lion-like mane, but it was changed to straight, blunt-cut bangs.
Makeup K: That’s right.
Designer T: We did the initial makeup and still photos with that lion mane style, right? Those got shelved. The decision was that Gaga’s image at the time was straight hair.
Makeup K: How did we manage to make it straight hair again?
Art O: Honestly, I don’t remember (laughs). We had prepared four dolls, so we used the remaining three to handle the change.
Posing K: Coordinating locations and staff schedules for multiple photoshoots across different dates was quite challenging.
Art O: And Gaga-side approval still wasn’t coming easily.
Posing K: That really drove home that this was a project with a global client across the ocean.

The Difference Between Gaga-Doll and Love Doll Makeup!?
Posing K: Regarding makeup, Makeup Director K explored various versions, even trying paint-like styles, right?
Makeup K: The paint-like makeup was based on an album image. We were initially progressing without a clear final image. But as time relentlessly pressed on, we suddenly got a request for an unfamiliar style: “This image!” I felt I couldn’t say no. So, amidst our regular work, I experimented with different makeup patterns.
Art O: We had no clear idea what would get approval, so concrete instructions were hard to come by. It felt like feeling our way in the dark as time slipped away.
Makeup K: The production period was indeed short, but for makeup, PARTY provided tons of reference materials and gave us strong support, which really helped. However, we usually do makeup for Japanese dolls. Creating a foreign woman’s face, especially Lady Gaga, and capturing her essence was tough. I remember struggling to make the likeness convincing.
Art O: What’s the difference between makeup for foreigners and Japanese?
Makeup K: There’s the structural difference between Westerners’ defined features and Japanese flatter faces, but the dolls we usually make often have features designed to appeal to male preferences. To make it “Gaga-like,” we had to convey strength of will and strong individuality. That kind of makeup isn’t our usual style, so it was a bit challenging.
Designer T: Love doll makeup is more about customizing to a client’s preferred colors.
Art O: True, the makeup approaches were almost polar opposites.

The Favorite: The Courtesan Style
Makeup K: We ended up showing four dolls, right? What were the outfits like?
Art O: There was a cool white suit adorned with shells, a colorful one matching an album image…
Posing K: …and the tabloid dress made from newspapers by a US designer featured in a sports paper article. And then another one: Gaga in a kimono as a courtesan.
This one used the doll with the rejected wild lion mane hairstyle. We styled it into an updo with a courtesan look right at the venue.
Designer T: The Gaga-doll project originally prepared three dolls, but we proposed making a fourth specifically for the hotel surprise.
Art O: Yes, yes. I believe President Tsuchiya suggested the courtesan idea. We had one spare doll, so we decided to use the extra fourth one to create something, almost like an “Orient Industry special.”
Designer T: The high heels also perfectly fit the image of tall geta sandals.
Posing K: We did the makeup, hair, and final posing right there in the hotel room, completing it on the spot.
Designer T: For its Japanese flavor and novelty, Gaga herself reportedly liked the courtesan version best in the end.
Posing K: That was quite the last-minute miracle.

Posing Worthy of Lady Gaga
Posing K: The Gaga-doll, into which Orient Industry poured all its resources, perfected down to the makeup and hair. My role was posing it for photo shoots and TV recordings.
Makeup K: Posing it in front of ad agency and creative team members must have been nerve-wracking?
Posing K: Because the doll’s quality was exceptional, my feeling was more like, “Check this out!” I might have been nervous normally, but I was just incredibly excited.
Art O: Putting it in high heels was another challenge this time.
Posing K: Achieving tricky, Gaga-esque poses in unstable positions was quite difficult. Then there was the tabloid newspaper dress. You couldn’t sit the doll in it, so we used a modified stand to keep it upright. Having such a strong personality like Lady Gaga actually helped with posing. Her fame aside, the shared understanding of “Gaga-ness” made it easier to visualize poses – like the iconic monster pose with the hand raised like a claw. If it had been Katy Perry, it might have been harder! (Laughs)

Meeting Her in Person Would Have Changed the Sculpt
Designer T: For the facial sculpt I handled, I deliberately went for a cool look based on the references we had. But if I had met Lady Gaga in person before sculpting, it would have turned out completely different. Also, her look then versus now is different.
Art O: Just going by photos, even someone close can look like a different person, or the true essence might not come through.
Designer T: That’s probably because viewers perceive others through their own senses and filters. With Gaga, she appears sharp in front of the media, but seeing her interact playfully and openly with staff, or noticing her consideration for others – seeing her true self changes your image. Sculpting based solely on photos and an image versus knowing the person firsthand naturally leads to different results.
Art O: Definitely. When I met her in the TV recording studio, she looked almost barefaced before going on air, but she was genuinely cute and beautiful.
Designer T: She has a cool image, but seeing her talk, she’s actually quite cute. I guess she consciously maintains the image in her music videos.
Posing K: The general image of Gaga is more “cool” than “cute,” but she left a charming impression overall.

A Surprise from Gaga During TV Recording
Posing K: We were present during the recording for Nippon TV’s “Sukkiri!!” show. It was when Gaga, surrounded by Gaga-dolls, performed a piano ballad.
Designer T: During the song recording, she was very strict. She picked up on slight background noise and insisted on multiple retakes. Truly a professional.
Art O: Her vocal power was immense. Even though I was by the farthest entrance, her live voice filled the entire studio.
Designer T: Plus, performing “Applause” acoustically was a first, drawing worldwide attention.
Posing K: During this, Gaga surprised us by changing part of the lyrics.
Designer T: Yes, yes! As a surprise, she changed the lyric “koons” to “doll” when she sang.

Moved by Her Words of Thanks
Posing K: During the TV recording, I was adjusting the doll’s pose when Gaga entered the studio. She came up to me, said “You made this, didn’t you!” and hugged me. I wanted to say, “No, no, not just me!”
Art O: Posing Director K, you were the one who interacted with Gaga the most.
Posing K: I wanted to say, “This is a team effort,” but she just said, “Just sit here.” She passionately told me how much she loved the Gaga-doll. I was incredibly touched. I was in the middle of pre-show posing adjustments, so I couldn’t really engage, and I was frustrated at not knowing how to properly respond.
Art O: She must have sensed his hesitation. At the Gaga-doll press conference, Gaga looked towards Posing Director K and said, “I told him ‘wonderful’ so many times. But I wonder if it really got through to him?” (Laughs)
Posing K: “See? It wasn’t just me!” (Laughs)

Yahoo! Japan’s Top Page Turned Gaga-Doll
Posing K: The subsequent campaign was amazing too.
Art O: The Gaga-doll was used in various promotions. They made and released a making-of trailer-style movie. I was shocked they put the Gaga-doll on Yahoo! Japan’s top page, linking to a special site.
Designer T: Yeah, the Gaga-doll appeared in the background of the top page.
Posing K: It was a massive campaign masterminded by Dentsu and Creative Agency, turning Yahoo! Gaga-themed. Shooting that trailer was down to the wire too! (Laughs)
Designer T: Absolutely. You had to wonder about the ad budget!

The Buzzworthy Gaga-Doll Draws Global Fan Attention
Makeup K: Where are the Gaga-dolls now?
Posing K: I believe Music Company manages them primarily. I heard PARTY might have one.
Designer T: We got tons of emails from fans worldwide asking, “Sell us a Gaga-doll!”
Art O: Even though we repeatedly explained Orient Industry was the manufacturer and Music Company owned the rights, people kept asking, “How much?”
Designer T: People thought we might have one at our factory. We got worried about potential break-ins, so we even signed up with SECOM! (Laughs)
Art O: Yeah, that was the trigger! (Laughs)
Designer T: Lady Gaga herself loved it so much she apparently wanted to take one back to the US. Being a creator herself, she was interested in the costume and sculpt, and she respects the people who made it.
Posing K: The quality was top-notch, of course, but she also adores Japan, so she was completely open and friendly throughout.
Designer T: What struck me strongly from this project was the feeling of seeing our creation take on a life of its own and grow. That only happened because we collaborated with many specialists on such a major project.
Posing K: Working alongside top-tier professionals on a world-class project like Lady Gaga’s is a story I’ll tell for the rest of my life. It was truly an unforgettable event.
Art O: Throughout this project, there was a constant thrill of creating and shaping something entirely new. Receiving heartfelt words of thanks from Lady Gaga herself was the result of everyone working together as one.