Homer's odyssey

THE eyes are bulging, the distinctively large upper lip protruding over a wide grin. His bald head is smooth, cool to the touch and buffed to a fine shine. It is unmistakably Homer Simpson. But instead of the neon yellow skin condition, the Homer sitting on Paul Young's kitchen table, next to his wife, Marge - complete with her immovable skyscraper hair - is sandy-coloured with beautiful flecks of red.

Paul's soapstone carvings of the characters from the cult series, The Simpsons, are so like the animated versions that they have gained approval from the show's creator, Matt Groening in Los Angeles.

But it's taken two years to get to the stage where Paul, 29, of Darlington, can sell them, a journey which has taken him to Kenya and back.

It all began with elephants. Paul's sister, Jenny, used to live in Uganda and would send her brother carvings of elephants and tribal people. He hit upon the idea of importing them to sell as gifts.

"We did quite well but then lots of people started importing carvings and selling them and I realised it wouldn't be good as a long term thing," says Paul, who did a business, accounting and finance degree at Leeds Metropolitan University. "But I thought the carvers have got the skills to produce to that kind of standard, we just need something with a different appeal. A lot of people love The Simpsons - we used to always watch it at university - and I thought they would appeal to so many people."

Paul already had a Fairtrade supplier in Nairobi called Crafts of Africa who worked with the carvers. Over Easter 2004, the wheels were set in motion for a new business.

"I knew I wanted it to be in the same soapstone as they carved the elephants from so I sent over any Simpsons memorabilia I could find, from a Bart Simpson shampoo bottle to plastic toys, so they could use them as templates. It took them a while to get the quality right and I took measurements of the eyes, lips etc so we could give them an exact guide on how to work."

In October last year, Paul flew out to Kisii Tabaka, in Kenya, to see the carvers at work for himself. Knowing that he would need a licence from 20th Century Fox, he also filmed them so he could show how carving was making a difference to the villagers' lives. There are now about 24 villagers working for the business, each with different tasks, from quarrying the soapstone to carving and polishing.

"It was amazing travelling through rural Kenya in a van, meeting the carver groups and eating with them," recalls Paul. "Everyone was so friendly."

When he got back to England, Paul sent the film disc off, but didn't hear anything. He went back to shop fitting until a stroke of luck occurred. Paul met George Blair from a London-based business network who contacted 20th Century Fox again on Paul's behalf. They sent samples and a copy of the film and then further samples.

At last, after five months, they heard the news they had been longing for.

"With them being hand-carved they had to go to Matt Groening to get the go-ahead from the top people," says Paul. "It was really exciting knowing the carvings had been viewed by him and his team and the feedback was great. We found out in July that the guys at Fox were happy with it and finally from the executive producers of the cartoon, Gracie Films."

Paul now has a licence to sell the figures for the next two and a half years through his company, Craft Village. Gaining the backing of Fox and Matt Groening means he can also link his products with any milestones or celebrations regarding The Simpsons, for example the cartoon's 400th episode next year. The show's appeal is worldwide. It is more than 17 years old but still has millions of viewers with celebrities eager to take up guest parts.

For the Kenyan villagers, the licence is the chance of regular work, which means they can eat well and send their children to school.

"It's hard to put into words what it means for them," says Paul. "They've never had official contracts in their life so hopefully it will give them some stability."

We watch the film of the villagers at work. Paul's venture creates so many different jobs. There are men with pickaxes at the quarry, hammering out huge chunks of soapstone which are then carefully checked over for blemishes or marks.

It is then hammered into a basic shape before it is passed to the master carvers for the fine detailing. The women, sitting in an amiable circle, chat as they wax and then polish Homer's bald head, Maggie's dummy, or Mr Burns' crow-like nose. Afterwards, the carvings are sent to the supplier to be quality checked before they are shipped back to England.

"Each carver initials the bottom and marks how many Homers they've done, for example," says Paul. "It was done initially for carver identification but it should actually make them more collectable."

Each of the carvers' biographies are on his website too. "You can read a bit about them, if they've got wives, kids and how long they've been carving for," says Paul.

Each carving of a head and shoulders bust takes around two days to complete. But Paul is open to suggestions for future figures.

"If they prove popular we'd like to expand to doing Disney characters or the likes of Wallace and Gromit," he says.

In the meantime, he has a kitchen table full of Simpsons characters to focus on. Ay, Caramba! as Bart might say.

* To order a carving, priced at £49, contact Paul via his website www.craftvillageuk.com or telephone 07815-771051.