Life is uncertain. But there is one place where all is serene and predictable — the world of miniatures.
“Unlike in real life, things are perfect in the miniature world,” says Lee Thomas Seawell, 66, of Lee Thomas Miniatures in Syracuse, New York. “You can look in your miniature room and everything is right. There is no strife. There are no issues to cause tension.”
Seawell, who has been working on five custom dollhouse and miniature room projects, including a Tuscan villa and a New Orleans townhouse, is not alone in recognizing the stress-relieving effects of collecting and creating miniatures.
Miniatures have been around since ancient Egypt, when wooden models of furnishings, boats and livestock were placed in pharaohs’ tombs. In the 1500s in Germany and the Netherlands, dollhouse miniatures became status symbols for adults. From the 19th century onward, they were mass-produced as toys in Europe and the United States.
Interest waned in the 1980s and ’90s, and many dollhouse shops closed. But pandemic shutdowns and, more recently, social media posts from miniatures hobbyists have helped bring about a resurgence. On Instagram alone, there are more than 3 million posts with the hashtag #dollhouse.
“When covid hit, wow,” Seawell says. “It started with people being at home. Because they weren’t going out, they were trying to find things to do, and miniatures became a huge avenue for people to be creative.”
“Social media helped remove the intimidation factor,” says Cathy Miller-Vaughan, guild show director with the International Guild of Miniature Artisans (IGMA). “Years ago, people might have looked at a finished dollhouse or artisan miniature and thought, ‘I could never do that.’ Now they’re seeing creators share the process step-by-step, mistakes included, and it creates more of a ‘I think I could do that’ feeling.”
Katie Sieg, 39, is one of many younger artists and collectors who have recently discovered the hobby and art form. As a child, Sieg, who lives in Tracy, California, collected tiny objects such as teapots and condiment bottles. But it wasn’t until she lost her retail job during the coronavirus pandemic that she became a serious miniatures enthusiast. Stuck at home, she says, “I needed something to keep my mind busy that wasn’t just sitting in front of the TV.”
After assembling a book nook kit to create a tiny scene, Sieg became hooked on creating miniature vignettes and scale models. “What I love most is the storytelling aspect,” she says. “Every miniature scene feels like a tiny, frozen moment in time. It’s satisfying and rewarding to sit back at the end of an hour or two and look at it and feel proud of what you made from paper and little wood scraps.”
Sieg’s interest expanded after she attended her first miniatures show, Miniatures in the Wine Country, in Lodi, California. “I was like: ‘What in the world? People actually make this handmade intricate stuff? … It was the most lovely community, and everyone was so friendly and welcoming,” she says.
Realizing she wasn’t alone in her devotion to miniatures was eye-opening. “I dug in deep and thought, ‘Okay, we can make a living off this if we want to.’ … It gave me the backbone to start figuring it out myself.”
Equipping a shed in her backyard with 3D and laser printers and a paper-cutting tool, Sieg gradually built a business creating content and running a shop on Etsy, called KayTeeKayDesigns. She has nearly 544,000 followers on TikTok and 187,000 on Instagram. Sieg’s shop is in good company: It’s one of hundreds on Etsy and eBay devoted to the craft’s materials and supplies, from printable files to tiny accessories and wallpaper.
Most of Sieg’s creations are traditional, but a few — such as tiny sex toys and drug paraphernalia — are more whimsical. “A lot of my miniatures are more modern and adult, things you don’t think about when you think about dollhouses,” Sieg says. “People think, ‘Oh, I can put something like that in there? I don’t have to do this old-school Victorian dollhouse.’ It changed their mindsets.”
Sieg says she has noticed a huge surge of interest in miniatures over the past couple of years, especially among millennials and Gen Z. A younger crowd is coming to the miniatures shows she attends regularly, including the Tom Bishop Chicago International Miniature Show (considered the largest of its kind in the world), Philadelphia Miniaturia and the National Association of Miniature Enthusiasts. Another popular stop on the miniatures circuit is IGMA’s week-long Guild School, held annually in Maine.
“People are drawn to the satisfying, nostalgic and almost escapist nature of tiny worlds,” Sieg says. “There’s something comforting about slowing down and focusing on small details, especially in such a fast-paced digital environment. A lot of people want something to keep their hands busy and their mind working, rather than scrolling on a phone.”
Audrey Gelman, 39, who owns the Six Bells Countryside Inn in Rosendale, New York, and its companion store in Brooklyn, can relate. During the pandemic, she began collecting antique miniatures, including such esoteric items as a tiny coffin and an electric chair. Then, after making a room box (a single miniature room display) for one of her friends, Gelman became obsessed. “There’s this feeling of the wonder of childhood when working on miniatures,” she says.
A couple of years later, when Gelman found the building that would become the inn, she realized that its jewel-box qualities would translate well into a dollhouse. She researched custom dollhouse creators and came across Seawell, who built a 1:12 scale model of the inn’s exterior and interior. It is now the lobby’s focal point.
Continuing with the miniatures theme, Gelman asked Seawell to teach two workshops at the inn. The first, in March, included a history lesson on miniatures, after which participants crafted bucolic spring scenes. “Everyone was sitting there smiling,” Gelman says of the 20 attendees, who included an actress, a flight attendant and a psychoanalyst.
“It was an intense weekend in the news — the [Iran] war had just started,” Gelman says. “People said working on these crafts gave them … a feeling of ‘Okay, we have total control over this little world we are making as the world is spinning out of control around us.’ It felt wholesome.”
In May, Gelman and Seawell hosted the second workshop, with 17 participants. “We did a farm-to-table diorama and everyone was really into it,” Seawell says.
Enthusiasm aside, the hobby comes with one drawback. “It is a very expensive habit,” Gelman says. “I’ve had to get it under control.”
Just like in real life, the miniatures world is replete with temptations, such as Waterford wine glasses and chandeliers dripping with Swarovski crystals. Still, Gelman adds, “I believe my entire retirement will be spent making some miniature railroad village.”
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