What is it about miniatures?
A map is a model - a scaled representation of a place. A miniature is, too. Model train layouts, impeccably-detailed dollhouses, metal miniatures for boardgaming and table-top wargaming - I’ve appreciated (or owned) these for most of my life, and I think many of you have as well. But what compels us to do this? We make miniatures as stand-ins for the full-size objects, and this allows us god-like powers to move, rearrange, reformulate, and rethink our (or another) world.
Something weird happens when you change the scale of a thing, such as seeing a room-sized sculpture of a large insect or holding a miniature model of a city or mountain. It’s not so much that the subject changes scale, it’s that you do. All of a sudden, you’re the size of a grain of rice, or as large as Long Island. And you watch the world change size around you. The largest, steepest mountain now looks like a lump of mashed potatoes, the deepest canyon like a crack in the sidewalk. This mind-altering change of scale is what motivates me to create miniatures.
Mt. Wilbur
Before MiniCityArt, there was TinyMtn
Creating tiny 3D cities wasn’t my first plan, it was actually to create miniature landscapes. I remember spending lots of time as a child looking at maps and atlases, seeing the shapes and colors and details laid out on each page. I would imagine myself as a giant, walking across the landscape. Or just a regular-sized me, walking across a large miniature model of the Earth. I would think “...if 1 mile in real life were 1 foot, then Indiana would be about the size of a football field, my house the size of the head of a pin, and Mt. Everest would be just over 5 feet high.”
After a few years of programming and testing, I launched TinyMtn (http://tinymtn.com/) in 2013 to design and sell accurate 3D printed models of mountains, canyons, and everything in between. Since then I’ve designed over 900 different models of over 250 natural features, and Christmas ornaments of 49 states and many countries. My apartment would probably qualify as the largest museum of terrain models anywhere in the world - by count. I’ve learned that people from all over the world have strong emotional connections to landscape, whether it’s the park in their backyard, a beautiful photograph, their first summit, or the hike that they always took with a parent. They come to TinyMtn for a 3D miniature to remind them of that place and time.
Tinymtn models
It’s not just about coffee-table decorations
In the last 7 years, I’ve been able to design and print 3D models for a wide variety of uses.
New Media Artist Jim Pallas wanted a Mt. Hood to cast into an artwork for a family member. Surveyors wanted large prints of mining claims. Interior designers wanted arrays of models for mountaineering clients. Grand Tetons National Park wanted a 3D model to use for programs for the blind. The Red Dot Design Museum in Singapore currently has six pieces on display as part of their show “Human-Nature.” And recently I’ve made two large prints for digital media projections for the National Renewable Energy Lab. But mostly I just make small prints for people who feel a connection to a special place. And it doesn’t matter if that’s a mountain or a neighborhood - we’ve got you covered.
Mont Blanc at Red Dot, credit: Connie Chan