Xavier Roberts

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Xavier Roberts (born October 31,1955, Cleveland, Georgia), the inventor and manufacturer of Cabbage Patch Kids is an American artist and businessman. During the American Folk art movement of the late 1970s, Mr. Roberts observed several teachniques involving the making of dolls from various materials. Influenced by the quilts that his mother, Eula, made, he began experiementing with a quilted doll. After much experiementation, Roberts created a type of doll he called "Little People". Roberts and a small group of friends began to travel from state to state in the Southeastern U.S. attending folk art exibtitions. At these exhibitions, Roberts began selling these handcrafted dolls he called "babies." Going into business as Original Appalachian Artworks, Inc, Roberts started producing Little People in his hometown of Cleveland, at a converted medical clinic, which he rechristened "Babyland General Hospital". The Little People evolved by 1982 into Cabbage Patch Kids, which quickly became a major toy fad. In 1984 alone, 20 million dolls were bought, and by 1999 95 million had been sold worldwide. Each doll is either hand signed by Mr Roberts, or has his signature stamped on its left buttock^{[citation needed]}.