Miniatures are having a moment. This intricate art of building and furnishing tiny worlds exploded during the pandemic, and has continued to grow popular through TikTok as well as shows like Best in Miniature. For Esquire, Scott Huler immerses himself in the world of miniaturists and seeks to understand the why behind these delicate and incredibly detailed dioramas called roomboxes. Are they places in which to escape? Spaces to control? Settings to find focus, or perhaps peace? Perhaps all of the above.
This is what distinguishes miniatures: this sense that just offstage, there’s more going on if you could just get small enough to walk through that little doorway. That’s what I was looking to understand. Then Off told me something.
“I put things in drawers,” he said. “In my rooms.” Those roomboxes are behind glass. But if Off includes a table in a roombox, and that table has a drawer, well: something will be in that drawer. Pencils, a sewing kit, tools, cutlery. Nobody will ever see it. Nobody will ever know it’s there, yet putting it in there is an essential part of what Off is doing. It’s about a story. “My whole life,” he said, whether creating roomboxes or connecting with clients to sell real estate, “has been about the story.”
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