miniature buildings

What is so compelling about miniature things?  I think maybe it’s a fascination we first cultivate in childhood when we turn from the big world of adults to the tiny world of our imagination.  I remember hours spent with my dollhouse fashioning tiny objects out of household detritus.  But also building whole houses on the tree stump in the bag yard out of leaves and bark chips.

When I was older I decided to collect souvenir buildings.  I quickly discovered the folly of this idea (even tiny buildings can quickly overwhelm a 300 square foot studio apartment), but I still love miniature things.  Maybe it’s similar to our fascination with aerial photography - it gives us a slightly different perspective on the world.  Or maybe it reconnects us with our childhood, when all our things were a bit more miniature. 

In any case, here are a few of my favorite miniature things:

Pete Peanut: http://www.petepeanut.com

Slinkachu: http://www.slinkachu.com

Buildings of Disaster: (yes, more Boym!)

and of course The Borrowers, by Mary Norton (1953)