1. Always unpack your new mannequin with care and consideration. Ideally, wear gloves when handling the body parts. If you do not have gloves to hand then at least ensure your hands are clean and rings are removed. Rings scratching against the surface of a mannequin will cause what looks like light pencil marks. They can be removed but in any case, avoid yourself the extra job of cleaning by removing your rings.
2. Clean hands are essential when unpacking, assembling and dressing a mannequin. We see the most common of marks caused by hands on key areas, such as around the neck, bottom of torso, thighs and arms. All of this can be avoided.
3. Join the mannequin together with care. Forcing a limb in place with undue care and attention can break the fittings. These can be fixed but again, safe yourself the hassle and expense.
4. Do not stick cellotape or double sided velcro to the mannequin. It will either remove the paint or leave a sticky residue which is time consuming to remove. It can of course be removed in about a half hour with white spirit, but it is an unnecessary task. If clothes do not fit the mannequin as you desire, use pins on the fabric, not tape on the mannequin.
5. Do not, if you can help it, drop the limbs. Whilst many old fashioned or expensive mannequins may survive, most modern, lightweight mannequins will not. If you think your mannequin needs to survive the hands of novice merchandisers, then please ensure they are adequately informed before they are let loose on your investment.

We once liased with a leading department store on the care of their mannequins. Their policy in fact was very bright. We were talking about damaged mannequins and how they recycled them. Simply put, they told us that there objectives were to always care for the mannequins and handle them in the correct way. As such, this attention to detail ensured that their investment lasted well into the future. With stores throughout the United Kingdom, this was obviously a good policy to have and saved a lot of time and money.

Before I Sleep is a site-responsive promenade production inspired by The Cherry Orchard, specially designed for the former Co-operative department store on London Road.

The characters in Chekhov’s greatest plays inhabit a world on the verge of collapse. They look out to the future and wonder what life will be like in years to come, unaware that, for them, it is about to change dramatically and irreversibly. Their future is now our present.

132 (no less) of our mannequins have been integrated into the set design and we are very proud to be working with such an exciting production.

‘dreamthinkspeak is an extraordinary company.’

The Guardian

If the mannequin is made from fibre glass, then it is in a static pose and cannot move much apart from its arms can move from by its side to a little higher – by having a hinge like joint where the top of the arm meets the torso. This mannequin video shows a great example, where the production team have used static (fibre glass) mannequins to imitate the dummies playing a keyboard.

But if you want a truly flexible mannequin that can do almost everything (apart from the washing up of course) then you need to look at our range of realistic and faceless flexible mannequins. They provide a very versatile solution to a variety of productions and are on the top of the list for a number of big idea directors.

Nicko, Mr Humphries and Dangerous Dave all feature on the front of the booklet. To say they are ecstatic with this new found stardom would be an understatement!

Mannakin client Joe Lyons, based in Hastings is the photographer.

Roz Mita added, ‘We were very excited to have worked with Joe on this project and even more delighted that 3 of our guys ended up on the front page of the booklet. A real achievement for Mannakin.’