November 20, 2023
Scott Huler
"Well, lockdown and TikTok, according to Darren Scala of D. Thomas Fine Miniatures, which skews toward Off-level fine-art miniatures, boasting more than 130,000 Instagram followers and a YouTube channel that features interviews with miniature artisans. According to Scala, the explosion started before COVID on Reddit, Pinterest, and especially Instagram, where miniaturists can share images of their work, teach and inspire one another, and swoon. Miniatures “allow you to see objects in a different way,” he said. “It makes you sort of super focus, takes you away from yourself and makes you feel something.” That illusion, the sense of elsewhere: “the illusion that there is something behind that door.” You can do that in a painting or a full-size sculpture, but it’s not the same. With a miniature, “You have to go like this,” he said, craning. “You have to move to get the treat, and then, you know. You have the possibility.” And while Scala shows off mostly higher-end miniatures—“fine” miniatures in the argot, the artisanal furniture and objects that run in the hundreds of dollars per piece—once you’re online, you’ll find that as miniatures have spread, so has their subject matter. A decade ago, the focus was stately homes. Not anymore. Read more here.
