How Miniaturists Realize Small Design Dreams

Like many city dwellers, Artist Wei Xu was bored with the blank walls he couldn’t paint on in his Toronto apartment. She fantasized about millennial pink paired with emerald green velvet and plenty of room on a swanky sofa. It was done.

In a city where the average semi-detached house costs over $1 million, buying property was out of the question. However, Shu realized that his own design dreams could come true. In 2017, she started building her own home in miniature. She bought a small wooden house-shaped storage space at her 100-yen shop and spent hours creating her hand-painted matte board so that the back wall looked like wallpaper. did. Then came her LED lighting, bright with coin batteries, and a floor made of popsicle sticks that she colored herself. Ten days later, she has meticulously crafted small houseplant figurines and macrame wall hangings. Her final touch was a chair made of polymer clay, accented with postage stamp-sized cross-stitched cushions.

The announcement was a hit on social media, especially among followers related to Xu’s spatial grievances. (When she started making mini houseplants, she says, her audience grew exponentially.) When she published her miniature room on Instagram. “Sure, we don’t have the right space to grow lush plants,” she said.

For those who don’t have the assets to secure life-size splendor, MiniSatisfy your aesthetic desires. In the age of Instagram Miniatureists have developed their own subculture.avid manufacturer Create signature styles admired by fans and purchased by more dedicated collectors. Other fans scroll through the countless pages of miniatures to enjoy the dopamine-inducing novelty of everyday places and things rendered in 1:12 scale.

“It’s a perfect little world that you have complete control over.”

Instagram page Daily Mini shares miniatures from around the world with 228,000 followers. The kudos went to Ottawa-based miniature artist Kristine Hanna, who created a printer in which tiny scraps of paper slide off the tray. Canadian company Much Love, Harry & Co. focuses on feasting, selling near-nanoscale charcuterie boards to collectors. They recently added clay caviar to their menu. Italian miniaturist Katia Corsaro specializes in sumptuous cakes decorated with icing roses and served whole or by the slice. Japanese artist Miyuki Kobayashi handcrafts miniature aquariums in which small fish are suspended to look like they are swimming.

The phenomenon has even landed in its own reality Competition program, CBC Best in miniature. A contestant named Kat described the miniatures as “things that take me to another world and allow me to have things I can’t have right now in real life.” Among the miniature pieces was a bar cart carrying bottles of champagne. One of her competitors, Philip, trotted out a small Eames chair.

Hand-assembling intricate pieces allows Xu to love living spaces and reimagine what a home is. “Creating your own miniature world is a fun and healthy escapism for many people. Miniatures are keeping the dream of contentment alive and writing small, as more and more Canadians embrace the impossibility of owning a home.

What started as a craft experiment has become a full-time pursuit for Xu. In 2019, she quit her marketing job to make miniatures as her career and sell her creations in her shop online. To create them, Xu toils in her tiny home in her studio, storing unused equipment in closets to free up valuable space.

Xu describes her process as meditative. on vacation, She made a Christmas tree with hand-painted presents and an ownerIt took about a week. She also created a fully functional miniature credenza with shelves and drawers inside. Writing desk with drawers containing books, globes and calculators. Bedroom scene with slippers on the rug.

Last February, Xu replicated a millennial favorite light green kitchen cart with boxes of cereal Pantry items and even a wooden spoon and whisk.Her latest obsession: miniature room dividersUm. “These really change the mood,” writes Shu on Instagram, her thumb depicts a mid-century modern armchair positioned between a snake plant and a violin leaf fig. (Snake plants are just over an inch tall, and she has a monstera about two inches tall.

Most young people struggle to expand their living space. But in miniature culture, the goal is to shrink: “It’s a challenge to get more and more details, keep pushing,” he says, Xu.In her micro but wonderful world Terrazzo tables, an impressive art collection and stylish green vases.

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This article appeared in the September 2022 issue. McLean’s magazine.Subscribe to monthly magazine hereor buy issues online here.