Life with Miniatures
Miniatures are like little memories kept in a form of miniaturized items. These may seem little, but they could cost fortune. Miniatures need patience, to complete one is not an easy work. Today we explore miniature community in Thailand. We asked the miniature making committee here in Bangkok to explore their workspace.
We travelled to Bukkhalo junction where the miniature committee takes place. This small and clustered commercial building is where the miniature magic begins. We met Ms. Chanphen (44) on our first visiting. She happily shows us their workspace and materials they are using. As she leads us inside, every workspace is all packed up in each little room. We walked among these materials that are hanged all around the workspace. Some of the unfinished projects are up above in the ceiling. Despite all these items piled up around the place, Ms. Chanphen says this working condition is perfect for them. She is kind enough to show some materials she use to make miniatures. There are assorts of acrylic colors and clays, each are use differently depending on the subjects.
A snapshot from Mr. Choophan’s workspace. Here, most of his reminders are hanging right above his worktable.
Collections of miniaturized items kept in piles of containers. Every miniatures are made with materials used in original items.
The miniature committee can be roughly categorized to five categories: clay department (where Ms. Chanphen is in charge of), metal department, wood department, glass department, and pottery department. All these packed in to two little commercial buildings. These departments work cooperatively towards the project. “All the miniatures we created use the same materials as the real items to achieve the realistic look,� said Ms. Chanphen (though we would say food miniatures is an exception to this policy). When asked about the price, Ms. Chanphen says that it depends on the customer’s budget. The higher the budget, the higher quality materials will be used in the project and vice versa. Now it all make sense why these materials are lying around this place. There is no garbage here, because all of these can be reused in any miniature projects.
Tons of food miniatures, along with kitchen utensils. These are carefully made one by one.
“I did not like it at all at first.” A surprising answer from Ms. Chanphen on how she first went into miniature community.
Ms. Chanphen unpacking one of her miniature projects for us to shoot.
To make miniatures look realistic, it takes lots and lots of efforts. Miniature committee aims to make their miniatures feels “at home.” Now we bring back how clustered their place is: it is their inspiration. A house too neat is not a home. A home needs traces of people living inside and that is what they are trying to achieve in their miniatures. “People buy miniatures because they make them feel at home,” said Ms. Chanphen, “if the miniatures felt unreal, why would people want them? We want to create little aspects of life and capture them in these miniatures.” We cannot agree more to that.
“I did not like it at all at first,” a surprising answer of Ms. Chanphen when we asked her how did she started off working as a miniature maker. “It started off as a time-consuming hobby and then the community grew.” She is been working with miniatures for 19 years. Though this was not start by her likes, miniatures became a big part of her now. “Guess I have been working on it for so long to the point I like them eventually.” We see now how miniatures can take place in everybody’s heart.
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