Portland Man Builds Dummies for Ventriloquists Around The World

When you enjoy your job, you never work a day in your life. That's what they say. I never knew who "they" are, but the statement is true. This is the case for 20-year-old Austin Phillips. He loves dummies. You know, the creepy looking dolls that ventriloquists use when performing.

Austin Phillips always loved the inner workings of ventriloquism. He was fascinated by how they were made, what made them blink and move, so he dove into it completely! Within his research, he found that instead of being a performer he would instead build them, according to WMTW.

I kind of gave up performing in college because I really became fascinated with the craft of making these figures and I found that there was an actual interest and marketplace, so it was sustainable.

Austin Phillips

As he sits in his downtown Portland studio, he restores and creates custom dummies for people all over the world. The official title for his job is, "Figure Maker," as the article states.

He believes there is a sort of "magic" within his dummies, even the creepy ones.

Even those really scary early ones, there's a magic about them because they really just, there were pure folk art in the sense ordinary people made these to the best of their ability for a job

Austin Phillips

The article states that it takes him hours upon hours to build these guys and gals that help performers get standing ovations. A lot of time goes into their faces but most of the work is within the inner workings of the dummies. The internal rigging that he builds is what he spends most of his time on, according to WMTW.

I make them all with brass. I cut every piece by hand. I solder it all in place no super glue, no plastic, nothing that's going to break

Austin Phillips

These creations are obviously made with fascination, talent, love and hard work. If you want to place an order for a one of kind dummy or check out what he Austin is up to you can visit his website here!