This weekend, hundreds of vendors and exhibitors will put up some of the world’s tiniest displays: This is IMoMA, the International Market of Miniature Artisans, where you’ll find hand-crafted piñatas that fit in your palm and feasts fit for a mouse. We sat down with two of the organizers, Paris Renfroe and Paolo Pabustan. (Interview edited for length and clarity.)
What is the tiniest thing you’ve ever made?
Paolo: We recreated the subway scene in the Matrix with Legos. The smallest you go, the harder it gets. You have to use tweezers to hold things in place while painting them and a magnifying glass to see.
Paris: A mini chaise lounge that had to fit into one of those Kinder egg type things, so the scale must’ve been at least 1:144th scale. At that scale, for me, interest [is a challenge]. A lot of the things that I make, you can actually pick up and enjoy all the details. But when you start getting that small, it's really hard to see a lot of the details without a magnifying glass.
What’s the biggest debate raging in the world of miniatures today?
Paris: So the biggest debate now is some of these older collectors that believe everything should be handmade. But the reality is if you go out in the furniture world today, there’s a lot of 3D-printing involved. So to make it like that in miniature, to me, it's just actually staying true to how things are made.
Paolo: With IMoMA, we’re trying to push for representation. In the past, the industry primarily consisted of older demographics, but we’re trying to introduce younger people who are losing the spirit of making something with their hands to the old timers who are, if you will, out of touch with newer technologies.
Why should people go to IMoMA this weekend, even if they don’t make miniatures?
Paolo: Making miniatures is very accessible, it’s not that expensive to start. There are going to be a lot of workshops at the event, some free, some paid, including a free Lego workshop for kids. So for something tiny and something accessible and affordable and something essentially very simple, you can create something big in terms of community, in terms of personal fulfillment or just in simple enjoyment.
Paris: There’s just so much talent out there. The whole idea is for us to create a platform for worldwide artisans who are typically used to showing on the internet. I think that's the oxymoron of social media; it's very anti-social. To be able to pick these pieces up, and feel the weight, and see how the material is formed, and talk to the artisan — that becomes an experience.
IMoMA takes place on Saturday and Sunday at Palace Station.
