Lost souls

As they did 15 years ago, partners Gretchen Wilson and Colleen Charleston are starting from scratch.

This past spring, doll manufacturer Little Souls' offices, warehouse and studio burned to the ground.

The fire started half a block away in a row of attached buildings. Watching outside her evacuated offices, Wilson thought she'd be back to work in 15 minutes. The fire spread quickly, however, and engulfed some stored chemicals in a nearby building. They exploded.

Thirty hours later, Wilson remembers, "our business went to dust. We lost literally everything." No one was physically injured in the blaze, but the real loss, says Wilson, is a spiritual one. "Little Souls was not just a place to work; it was an extended family. We created a community. So much of our love was in that community."

Wilson began crafting dolls for her kids, some of whom are now in their thirties. Although Little Souls manufactured the dolls in its Bridgeport, Pa., studio, the company works with women in Armenia, Romania, Ghana and elsewhere to make jewelry and accessories for some of the dolls.

Since the fire, Little Souls is counting on its Sri Lanka-manufactured toy line to keep up with expenses. (Fifty percent of the profits will be returned to the Sri Lankan community.) Several of the orders for the under-$25 Dandles and Tootoos dolls were reduced to ash, and Wilson requests that retailers contact the company at (610) 277-9950 or littlesouls@aol.com. "Retailers have been amazingly supportive; sales have doubled," Wilson says. Collectors and retailers have been mailing old hats and buttons to the company whose museum was also lost in the flames.

A friend, Bob Fishman, "moved us to his workspace," and provided phones, desks and computers. "He helped us start to rebuild," Wilson adds.

Little Souls recently secured new office space in Bridgeport. "Our landlord asked us when we were moving in, but there's nothing to move in. It's just like the beginning."