Mini

Dollhouse Living Room by White Owl

Were any of you following Emily Henderson’s “I’m a Giant” Dollhouse Challenge a few months back? Seeing the tiny homes these fantastic designers and bloggers built was fascinating. Everyone really pulled out all the stops including stained parquet floors, upholstered sofas, and hand painted wallpaper (a few of my favourites are here, here and here).  All these small scale homes had me thinking mini, as in miniature versions of regular sized things. Here are a few examples of miniatures that are all the more beautiful because of their smallness.

Panton 1959 Chairs by Vitra Design Museum

Miniature La Mamma, Pesce 1969 by Vitra Design Museum

Vitra has created miniature reproductions of iconic designs from Eames, Panton, Gehry and more. I may have gasped when I saw the price of these mini marvels (one of the Panton chairs will set you back 124,90 Euros and La Mamma is a whopping 299,80 Euros), but for design afficciendos it may be the next best thing to owning the full-sized version.

Sushi by Shay Aaron via the wondrous

These food sculptures by Shay Aaron are wonders to behold. Sadly, none of her creations are edible, but they sure look good enough to eat. If you follow this link you can see more of her foodie creations as well as photos of how she makes these tiny food items out of polymer clay.

Mini Planter How-to by Etsy

I want a whole garden of these mini planters. It’s small space gardening at it’s most miniscule. To make a few itsy bitsy plants of your own you can use small terracotta planters that are often found at craft or garden stores, but thimbles will also do the trick. For full directions head on over to the Etsy blog.

Mini Printing Press via Anthology Mag

Is this not the most charming little gadget you’ve ever seen? It’s a miniature printing press that you can actually typeset yourself. Probably not the best route to go if you’re trying to print a whole novel but it would be fun for personalizing stationary or cards.

installation by Liliana Porter

Liliana Porter via Art Hound

Liliana Porter’s installations of tiny people interacting with an over-sized world are humorous and thought-provoking. Her lonely little figures engage with their surroundings in unexpected ways exhibiting an endearing stubbornness in the face of tremendous odds. I especially like the little painter above. To see more of her beautiful work go here. As you can see, scaling things down in size can sometimes be just as powerful a design tool as going big. Are you drawn to miniatures? I’d also love to hear if any of the dollhouses in the “I’m a Giant” challenge caught your eye. There were a few I would happily move into any day. Happy Friday Everyone!