Lectures & Presentations
Book now for a live or virtual presentation at your club, library, college or arts organization. Topics include:
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The History of Miniatures
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World's Most Extraordinary Dollhouses
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Miniatures: A Pop Culture Phenomenon
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DollHousing: Next Generation
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How to Collect Miniatures
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The Charm of Nybelwyck Hall Miniature Mansion
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Previous Clients: Felcity House, NYC, Redford Township Library, Redford MI,
Monmouth County Library System (Monmouth NJ), Museum of Shenandoah Valley (Shenandoah PA), Middle Country Library (East Islip NY), Longwood Library (Longwood NY), Emma Clark Library, Elwood Library, Hampton Bays Library (Hamptons NY)
Programming Overview
The History of Miniatures​
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Darren will present the history of miniatures from the earliest known beginnings during the days of the ancient pharaohs in Egypt, to the renaissance era, when women of a certain social class created cabinet houses (the modern-day equivalent of a dollhouse), all the way to today’s awesome tiny treasures. Attendees will hear about how miniatures have changed in the modern era to become one of the most popular hobbies for folks everywhere! Expect to be encouraged by this “great big world of tiny,” and be prepared to feel inspired to become a hobbyist, collector or an everyday miniatures enthusiast!
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World's Most Extraordinary Dollhouses
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This presentation takes viewers on a journey and talks about the most wonderful dollhouses throughout history from the renaissance era to modern times beginning with the famous Petronella's Dollhouse (c1750) which inspired the dollhouse featured in The Miniaturist, by Jesse Burton. The talk will finish with the very latest miniature marvel to hit the miniature world: the Joanna Fisher Dollhouse featured at the Musuem of Arts and Design in New York City and the Bruce Musuem in Greenwich, Connecticut. Darren will present the rich history of theses dollhouses, share the extraordinary details of each structure, and tell some of the stories behind why they are so special. Viewers will be blown away by the level of art that goes into each piece!
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Miniatures: A Pop Culture Phenomenon
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Darren will take viewers through brief history of miniatures from ancient times through to today the earliest known beginnings and talk about how miniatures have exploded in popularity over the past decade as interest in tiny things have grown. This talk will include a view to all of the different things miniatures can be made from and into. Be prepared to discover how much miniatures are all around us exciting and delighting
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Dollhousing for the Next Generation
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This ain't your great aunt's dollhouse....dollhouses have come a long way since you were a kid! With a seemingly endless possibility of makers, tools, materials, tutorials and communities, dollhousing has become one of the most popular and growing hobbies in the United States and around the world. Darren will talk about all of the resources available to dollhouse enthusiasts so they can best navigate the category so they best enjoy and take part in this awesome little world....whether it is collect, create, refurbish, build, or all of the above!
About Darren...
Darren is unapologetic about his passion for the tiny for as long as he could remember. He was inspired at an early age by watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood on television and fascinated by all of the tiny objects it featured. At 8 years old, he asked his father, a cabinet maker by trade, to build him a dollhouse. (This was not something a young boy in Brooklyn, New York asked for during the 1970’s!). With the love and acceptance of his supportive parents, he was gifted a hand-built dollhouse which became the springboard for a lifelong love of miniatures and the drive to follow his passion without hesitation.
Darren says, “…there is something seductive about a miniature – the way your palm can wrap itself around a tiny object. The small, smooth lines of a perfect twelve-inch scaled hand-spindled captain chair rising just three inches high. In my talks, I ask folks to re-think the dollhouse, because often times, the miniatures I talk about are nothing like anything you’ve ever seen or what you may have grown up with. They’re more intricate, more detailed and created with techniques which make them so very awesome!” He says…”my goal is to make everyone a maker, a hobbyist, or simply an enthusiast!” “And, I want folks to see how special and awe-inspiring miniatures can be and encourage my feelings of excitement and delight when they see them!” ​
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As a graduate of Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, he receivied a degree in communications. After a longstanding career with Revlon, the international consumer product giant, Scala founded D. Thomas Fine Miniatures, the retail store and gallery in the historic lower Hudson Valley, close to New York City where he began selling quality scale works and showcasing miniatures in shows and ongoing exhibitions. Today, the D. Thomas online retail presence is the destination for fine scale works via estate sales and auctions and in his online shop on Invaluable.com. He spends most of his time working with collectors and families in the pursuit of finding happy homes for their miniatures.
In addition to sharing his Meet the Miniaturist presentation to libraries and organizations (live and virtually) Darren also hosts the online interview series “MEET THE MINIATURIST,” where viewers meet and hear from miniaturists from all over the world. For the past several years Darren has curated an exhibition of holiday miniatures to decorate Nybelwyck Hall, the fantastical dollhouse on permanent view at the Hudson River Museum, in Yonkers, New York. Darren is an active volunteer and former trustee of IGMA, the International Guild of Miniature Artisans. In his free time, Darren is a mentor and volunteer for the Make-A-Wish Foundation Hudson Valley New York Chapter.
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For more information on additional presentation topics or to book Mr. Scal, call 914-548-1984 or email Darren at darrentscala@gmail.com.
About D. Thomas Fine Miniatures
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D. Thomas Fine Miniatures is an online retail destination featuring scale structure and top quality collectibles including 1/12th inch furniture and accessories. You may find us on Invaluable.com and on eBay. We also scour the planet looking for high quality collections and conduct estate sales on your behalf. Call us and we'll be happy to talk more about our marketing, promotions and sales services!
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We also promote the miniatures community and makers whenever we can by curating gallery exhibitions at outpost locations and support the work of miniature artisans on Facebook and Instagram.
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The concept D. Thomas Fine Miniatures was designed to appeal to collectors, crafters and enthusiasts at all skill levels and abilities, and was created, in part, to raise awareness of miniatures as a decorative art form and to introduce the discipline not only to a new generation but to those who may just be discovering it!