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Marvel at tiny artworks at mindblowing new exhibition ‘Small is Beautiful’

Here's a sneaky peek at some microscopic wonders that'll put your old doll's house furniture to shame

Alice Saville
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Alice Saville
Contributing writer
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If you've ever fantasised about being a giant, then new art exhibition 'Small is Beautiful' is for you. Coming to London next week after a hit run in Paris, it's packed with teeny-tiny artworks that'll make you feel about 50ft tall. They're made by 32 talented artists with fingers as deft as elves' miniature mitts. As well as 130 artworks, there are 80 photographs on display, making this a seriously big display of tiny art. Plus, there are workshops where kids can try their little hands at making miniatures, and a pop-up shop where you can take home your own thimble-sized delights.

Jasenko Dordevic's artwork
Photograph: Jasenko Dordevic

The joy of these artworks often lies in their inventiveness, and the way they play with all the possibilities that working on a tiny scale throws up. Jasenko Dordevic's tiny sculpture turns a pencil into a train tunnel, and carves the pencil's lead inner into a microscopically small train. 

Small is Beautiful
Photograph: Nicolas Pierre

Other artworks take inspiration from the traditional pastime of the model village, making familiar streets tiny with ingenious accuracy. Nicolas Pierre's artwork savours the sights and smells of Paris, recreating a street on micro scale, right down to the tattered old flyposters and bags of rubbish.

Minimiam's artwork
Photograph: Minimiam

Meanwhile French artist duo Minimiam (whose name translates as 'little yum') are professional food photographers who create wondrous scenes of microscopic people enjoying themselves in gigantic food wonderlands: check out their snaps of tennis players competing on the surface of a luscious red watermelon, or sunbathers tanning themselves to a crisp on an island of scorched meringue. 

There's only one crucial rule you have to remember before entering the tiny, marvellous world of 'Small is Beautiful': don't sneeze, or you'll blow the tiny artworks away and be left with nothing but mucus and extreme social embarrassment. 

'Small is Beautiful' is on from Friday 15 April at 79-85 Old Brompton Road. For more info, check out its website

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