When it comes to reimagining vinyl toys, few artists have as much vision and offer as much creativity as the mysterious Doktor A. Hailing from somewhere east of the Atlantic, the dear Doktor has been churning out custom toys based on some of the greatest creatures that ever existed—Frankenstein, Dracula, and many more. His work looks dirty, grimy, and dusty, and his characters seem to have been born from a world long lost. To say Dok A is one of the best customizers in the business wouldn’t be an exaggeration. His work is sought after by collectors around the world, and no true collection is complete without a piece from his laboratory. Life In A Bungalo sat down with the Doktor to find out just what makes him tick.

How did you become interested in toys and customizing?
I have always loved toys and collected them all my life. I have a huge Tim Burton toy collection and a rather large Batman collection too. At one time I had several hundred robots but they have been severely trimmed recently.

As a teenager I was keen on fantasy wargaming and set up my first company selling hand painted metal miniatures. I was hired from there by Games Workshop to paint the figures for their promotional items and packaging and games books.

I then trained as in Industrial Modelmaker and got a job right out of college as a “blue-sky” toy designer in London. I not only came up with the ideas for new toys but also designed and sculpted working prototypes as part of an in-house team. We then pitched the toys to the big manufacturers.

So the customizing of toys is just a natural progression for me really. Its nice that for the first time the craftsmanship I put into my work is being considered as art.

Your custom characters look like they came from a storybook. Do you think up a story for each figure?
No I don’t actually. Quite a lot of the time the characters have names which suggest stories but I don’t generate a back-story for them before they are created.

I like to hint at things within the details of a piece but don’t tie then down to anything specific. I prefer the viewer to make their own story for them. A lot of my characters defiantly inhabit the same world and could probably be tied together in some logical way, but I don’t set it all out beforehand.

One of the things that really draw fans to your figures is the postcard-style pictures you make of them. How long have you been doing that, and do you feel that the photos add to the artistic value of the piece?
That’s just something I like to do. It helps set up a vibe for a piece when people view it for the first time. It sets a scene and presents the toy in the way I think it should be best viewed. But once I had done a few of them the point was raised about which was the actual art piece, the toy itself as an object of the image of the toy. I like to see them as parallel pieces. One day maybe I will produce a set of the images as prints.

Your style is very well defined. The customs all seem to draw from classic horror and sci-fi books (20,000 Leagues, Frankenstein, Arabian Nights), is this intentional?
Steam-punk! That’s the thread which ties it all together. A technologically advanced, industrial Victorian never land. Sometimes I reference literature directly when it fits with what I do, such as the Nautilus or Hyde for instance. And as I love classic horror and sci-fi books and movies its bound to influence my work. An impossible, sepia tinted, steam driven past is where my creativity dwells.

Some people would describe your work as dark or spooky. I think it’s your use of dark colors and industrial look. What do you describe your work as?
I think it’s inevitable that my work will be seen as spooky or dark and I don’t mind that. I don’t think it’s true to say that about everything I do but spooky seems to be the shorthand term for more muted imagery with an old fashioned aesthetic. If I sat my work in a modern or future world rather than an earlier era it would probably be described as urban or post-apocalyptic. I just do what I am happy doing and leave it to others to put labels on me. I am very influenced by children’s stories and folklore too. Though my interpretations of those themes go through my own brain filter and probably look spooky to others.

What is your favorite toy to make customs of and why?
Favorite platforms have to be the MadL and the 8″ Dunny. Both are great shapes with nice areas to work on and both feel great when you hold them. They are also both forms with unique idiosyncrasies, which means you have to work a little harder to get a successful design. Though I am happy working on pretty much any platform. Some of my personal favorite pieces were on toys not commonly customized such as the Helpers and Fatima. I see those pieces as more akin to unofficial collaborations with the original toy artist rather than a “custom” in the more common sense. I would not like to be tied to any one canvas. That’s what keeps it fresh.