Kodak revives the retro point-and-shoot photography and vintage filters with the miniature keychain digital Charmera. A modern twist on the brand’s first signature single-use camera, the KODAK Fling, the device brings back the throwaway cameras from the 1980s, now able to save and transfer photos and videos using a USB-C cable and without using any film rolls. The compact and portable device functions as both a digital camera and a collectible item. It is so small that four of these can fit in the user’s hand.

The Kodak digital Charmera with a keychain includes seven different retro-style filters replicating the nostalgic film and vintage photography aesthetics. Alongside these, there are four different Kodak-branded frames that add decorative borders to images and the return of classic photography elements like film sprocket holes or vintage camera branding. A date stamp feature allows users to mark their photos with shooting dates, which is a common feature from film cameras of earlier decades.

all images courtesy of Kodak

Retro Device model with transparent shell 

Inside the compact case sits a digital image sensor that captures both still photographs and video recordings. The camera processes images through built-in software that applies vintage-style filters and frames automatically. There’s no need for them to develop any film; it is all digital. The Kodak digital Charmera with a keychain also connects to external devices through a USB-C port for file transfers without needing WiFi connections. The device requires a micro SD card to store the images and videos, another feature that now seems unusual in personal gadgets.

Kodak offers its digital Charmera with a keychain in seven designs, and one of them comes with a transparent shell so users can partly see the components inside. When they flip the device, a small screen allows them to see the pictures and videos they’ve taken. Another stunt that the brand pulls is the ‘blind box’ selling, meaning users don’t know what kind of design they’re getting until they open the box. Retro photography appeals to the new(er) generation, and Kodak hopes to contribute to the trend through its digital Charmera with a keychain.

Kodak revives the retro point-and-shoot photography and vintage filters with the miniature keychain digital Charmera

view of the device with keychain

it is so small that four of these can fit in the user’s hand

Kodak offers its digital Charmera with a keychain in several designs

one of the designs comes with a transparent shell so users can partly see the components inside

users don’t know what kind of design they’re getting until they open the box

the device also connects to external devices through a USB-C port for file transfers

project info:

name: Charmera

brand: Kodak | @kodakfilm.reto

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Miniature and portable record Tiny Vinyl can play a four-minute song on each side of the four-inch disc using any standard turntable. Each record holds up to four minutes of music per side, which is ideal for singles or special releases, and the record measures just four inches across, compared to the standard 12-inch LP format. Tiny Vinyl uses traditional record pressing techniques adapted for smaller formats. The manufacturing process, which uses bio-attributed vinyl, creates authentic grooves that hold audio information just like full-size records.

Each pressing run receives sequential numbering with TV numbers printed on both the packaging and the disc itself for authentication and collectibility tracking. In total, the miniature record Tiny Vinyl weighs only 15 grams, lighter than a standard LP’s 140 grams, and its compact size allows it to fit in pockets. Despite its small size, it maintains the classic vinyl record appearance with grooves, center labels, and the familiar black disc format. Artists can also customize vinyl colors and packaging design just like the traditional 12-inch LP jackets and discs.

all images courtesy of Tiny Vinyl

Vinyl made from renewable plant materials

The miniature record Tiny Vinyl uses 100 percent bio-attributed vinyl, a significant departure from traditional petroleum-based vinyl production. It derives from renewable plant materials instead of fossil fuels, and the manufacturing process creates vinyl that remains chemically identical to traditional vinyl. This material choice reduces the carbon footprint while maintaining audio fidelity. Tiny Vinyl records play at 33 RPM on most manual turntables without requiring special equipment. 

The records work with standard turntable needles and cartridges, but the turntables with automatic features like auto-stop or auto-return may struggle because their tonearms cannot reach the record’s center while maintaining contact. Users must disable these automatic features or make sure that their tonearm can reach the platter center during playback. Each side of the miniature record Tiny Vinyl holds exactly four minutes of audio content. It may be considered a limitation, but it also makes the format ideal for singles, promotional tracks, or special versions. 

miniature and portable record Tiny Vinyl can play a four-minute song on each side of the four-inch disc

the disc still plays using any standard turntable

each record holds up to four minutes of music per side

Tiny Vinyl uses traditional record pressing techniques adapted for smaller formats

the disc weighs only 15 grams, lighter than a standard LP’s 140 grams

artists can also customize vinyl colors and packaging design

project info:

name: Tiny Vinyl | @tinyvinylrecords

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Physicists at Loughborough University use nanotechnology to create the world’s smallest violin, so tiny it can fit inside human hair. The miniature musical instrument is a test subject for the researchers to try out the capabilities of the university’s new nanolithography system, which can allow them to build and study structures at the nanoscale. While the physicists are able to create the world’s smallest violin, they add that it’s a microscopic image of it rather than a playable musical instrument. In fact, this thinner-than-hair photo sits on top of a small chip. The making of the world’s smallest violin: first, the physicists use a clean chip.

They put the chip into a glove box, and inside, they coat the chip with a thin layer of polymer. Next, they place the chip under the NanoFrazor, which is a nano-sculpting machine from Heidelberg Instruments. They load a violin pattern into the NanoFrazor’s software and set the machine’s parameters. The NanoFrazor’s hot tip then ‘writes’ the violin pattern onto the polymer. After this, they dissolve the polymer, and this process leaves a hole in the shape of a violin. They then move the chip to a deposition chamber and add a layer of platinum. Lastly, they take the chip out of the system and put it in acetone. As soon as the acetone removes all the remaining polymer, a platinum violin comes through, displaying the microscopic image of the instrument.

all images courtesy of Loughborough University

Thinner than a human hair and no larger than dust

The making the world’s smallest violin can be comparable to screen or silk printing, just on a much smaller scale. The physicists at Loughborough University say that the musical instrument’s image measures 13 micrometers across and 35 micrometers tall. For comparison, an average human hair measures between 15 and 120 micrometers wide. In this case, the violin is smaller than a human hair, even no larger than a speck of dust. For the researchers, nanotechnology results like this can help produce small parts for devices, such as smartphone and laptop components.

In return, it can result in making them thinner. Having smaller parts can also mean more components can fit inside a single device. Building the world’s smallest violin builds on knowledge for future research since few NanoFrazor systems exist in the UK at the present time. Tools like such help researchers design experiments to study different materials in various ways, including light, magnetism, or electricity, and to observe how the materials respond. So far, there are already two Loughborough University research projects that are underway using the nanolithography system. One is exploring alternatives to magnetic data storage, and another is investigating how heat can be used for faster and more energy-efficient data storage and processing.

viewers can see the violin through a microscope

view of the human hair strand

image of the violin in the middle compared to the strand of hair next to it

the miniature instrument is a subject to test the university’s new nanolithography system

the making the world’s smallest violin then can be comparable to screen or silk printing

after this, two projects are underway at the university using nanotechnology

project info:

name: World’s smallest violin

institution: Loughborough University | @lborouniversity

physicists: Dr. Naëmi Leo, Professor Kelly Morrison, Dr. Fasil Dejene

machinery: Heidelberg Instruments

The post world’s smallest violin is so tiny it can fit inside human hair appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

There’s a functional miniature Mac in town, and it’s the replica of the original 1984 Apple computer. The mastermind behind it is Nick Gillard. He’s inspired by the project of Matt Evans named pico-mac. He describes his version, then, as pico-mac-nano. It is 62 mm high, around the size of a matchbox, and has USB keyboard and mouse support. Since it is open-source, users can buy the parts and build their own functional miniature Apple Mac.

While the creator bases his design off of Matt Evan’s project, he downsizes it further and still makes it work without needing to plug it into an external monitor. He challenges himself to build the smallest possible Maci replica, using affordable and modern parts, including an LCD screen, all powered by a tiny Raspberry Pi Pico chip. The result, so far, gives him a functional miniature Apple Mac that users can carry in their pockets and use anywhere.

all images courtesy of Nick Gillard (1-Bit Rainbow)

Components fit inside the tiny 3D printed case

Nick Gillard wants the original 1984 Apple Mac display for his functional miniature replica. To do it, he needs a screen with at least 512 pixels across, because that’s how wide the classic Macintosh screen was (512×342 pixels). He has found a 2-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 640×480 pixels and changed the Mac firmware to output a 480×342 image instead of 512×342. In this way, the screen keeps its native resolution with no pixel suffering. Now that the LCD issue has been solved, the creator readies the case of his functional miniature Apple Mac.

The case should be exact because he needs to fit all the other components in a tiny box, not just the screen and the chip. Luckily, he has found a smaller version of the Raspberry Pi Pico Board, made by WaveShare. This helps insert all the parts into his 3D printed, custom Mac case based still on the original 1984 Apple computer. He also positions the USB-C port in the same spot as the ports in the original computer to fully follow its design. Then, he manages to squeeze in a micro-SD card and slot for storage. He even engraves a 1-bit rainbow Apple-style logo inside the back panel of the 3D printed case where the real Mac had the signatures of the original team.

it is 62 mm high, around the size of a matchbox, and has USB keyboard and mouse support

Nick Gillard recreates the Picasso box of the original computer

The front panel of the functional miniature Apple Mac has a cut-out for the LCD screen and a bracket to hold the internal parts, just like the original Macintosh. For the reset and boot-select buttons on the Pico, the creator makes a click-in piece to press them without needing to open the case. He also carefully shapes the inside of the case to reduce the amount of support material needed when printing, saving time and use of plastic. The functional miniature Apple Mac looks finished, but Nick Gillard isn’t yet. The creator wants to go the extra mile.

He does so by recreating even the miniature version of the 1984 Apple computer’s ‘Picasso’ box. He has found a box manufacturer in India who can produce a white, full-color printed box made from corrugated cardboard, just like the real one but only scaled down. There’s even 3D printed polystyrene casing the functional miniature Apple Mac to protect it from scratches. This is the pico-mac-nano’s collector’s edition, the one that’s complete with a custom box, inserts, and accessories. Handy users can make them on their own, and Apple fans who want to bring back the original Mac and carry it anywhere now have the chance to own a scaled-down version of it.

since it is open-source, users can buy the parts and build their own functional miniature Apple Mac

the 1984 Apple Macintosh next to the replica

tiny Raspberry Pi Pico chip powering the unit

the creator also recreates the miniature version of the ‘Picasso’ box

the full-color printed box comes from corrugated cardboard

as seen, view of the replica and its 3D printed case

project info:

name: pico-mac-nano

design: Nick Gillard 

project: pico-mac by Matt Evans

files: here

parts: here

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The dubbed first-ever house on the moon, named The Moonhouse, expects to land on June 5th, 2025, at 9:24pm CET time. It’s a tiny red house designed as a traditional Swedish cottage, and the project of the artist Mikael Genberg. It launched around January 2025, attached to the lunar rover TENACIOUS. After roaming around the space for over four months aboard the Japanese lunar lander RESILIENCE, the artwork is about to do a soft landing in Mare Frigoris, or the Sea of Cold. It’s not the first time that the team sent a tiny red house to the moon.

Back in 2023, the Japanese exploration company ispace conducted a similar mission with the same sculptural artwork by the Swedish artist. It didn’t touch down successfully. This time around, the artist, who has worked with a team of engineers for the project, hopes that it lands safely on the Moon. Once the lander touches down, the rover is to be deployed so it can scout the moon’s surface for an ideal site to leave the tiny red house. Antoine Bocquier, rover pilot and senior space system engineer at ispace, says that the maneuvering is remotely controlled from Earth. ‘I will operate the rover to identify a location that is both stable and symbolically meaningful,’ he says.

The Moonhouse and TENACIOUS | images courtesy of the European Astronaut Center (Cologne) of the European Space Agency (ESA), unless stated otherwise

The moonhouse by mikael genberg is decades in the making

The Moonhouse may claim the dubbed first-ever tiny red house on the moon only when it has landed and been positioned safely on the surface on June 5th, 2025. The artist Mikael Genberg has always had the dream of having his artwork be on the moon. It started in 1999 when he imagined planting a simple red house on its surface. Two and a half decades later, it is set to come true, backed by a team of engineers who help him realize the dream. The red cottage is an homage to the traditional homes in Sweden. For the artist, building a miniature version of it that might land on the moon means reminding himself, and the viewers, of one’s roots, the origins.

There’s more of a poetic undertone to it. It’s not about politics or pure science (although there needs to be engineering involved to make it happen). The wait has now begun on the fate of the tiny red house setting up a temporary home on the moon. Mikael Genberg’s house has also traveled around the world. It has been up in trees, underwater, and on top of the Globe arena. It has also visited the Great Wall of China and the International Space Station. It even flew 400 kilometers above Earth as a companion to Sweden’s first astronaut, Christer Fuglesang. Its next stop, then, is the moon, hoping to touch down safely this time after its 2023 attempt.

the dubbed first-ever house on the moon, named The Moonhouse, expects to land on June 5th, 2025

it’s a tiny red house designed as a traditional Swedish cottage | from here, all images courtesy of The Moonhouse

the miniature has roamed around the space for over four months aboard the Japanese lunar lander RESILIENCE

back in 2023, ispace conducted a similar mission with the same sculptural artwork

once the lander touches down, the rover is to be deployed so it can scout the moon’s surface for an ideal site

the landing should be at 9:24pm CET time

project info:

name: The Moonhouse | @the_moonhouse

artist: Mikael Genberg 

company: ispace | @ispace_inc

The post first house on the moon set to land soon appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Hautlence reveals Retrovision ‘85 at Watches and Wonders 2025, a watch that flips into a miniature robot around the wrist. It pays homage to a design from a ‘well-known Japanese toy manufacturer,’ as the brand describes it. The Hautlence miniature-robot watch features a self-winding movement from the Vagabonde Tourbillon collection. Its design even evokes retrofuturism. Once the user transforms the Hautlence watch into a miniature robot, they see the display clearly, featuring a central-minute disc with three-hour satellites rotating around it.

There’s a button that the wearer clicks to unfold the timepiece design. The robot shows its form then. Its head unfurls, and its arms and legs stretch out. At the center, time-telling is unconventional than the typical watches. There aren’t any watch hands. Instead, the minutes are at the top of the central disc. Then, the numbers written on the minute markers are the seconds for the timer. Their starting point is at the bottom rather than at the top.

all images courtesy of Hautlence

Hautlence retro-designed watch encased in a miniature robot

The hours of the timepiece appear as the three-hour rotating satellites on the dial, which orbit around the central disc. When the users unfold the timepiece, the three purple discs rotate as if they were dancing. The design team places sapphire crystal at the rear of the Hautlence watch that turns into a miniature robot. Through this, the wearer can see the mechanism operate from the outside. For the case, bezel, and crown, the design team uses 3D printing and titanium for them all, with partial copper-colored PVD coating. The base dial also emerges from titanium with a frosted finish. As for the intermediate dial, it features rhodium-plated brass with blue and purple PVD.

The minute discs come with sapphire as well and applied numerals and Globolight rings. The straps are black rubber with a steel pin buckle. There are a total of 217 components and 39 jewels for the timepiece model. The Hautlence Retrovision ‘85 watch encased in a miniature robot pays tribute to the early days of cartoon and anime shows. It’s the period pixelated graphics in video games and the boom of skateboarding culture. The design team describes their creation as ‘a robot watch inspired by the iconic design of the original, but with a mechanical movement equipped with a flying tourbillon.’ So far, the timepiece design is limited to only eight units in total.

the Hautlence miniature-robot watch features a self-winding movement from the Vagabonde Tourbillon series

the minutes are at the top of the central disc

view of the miniature robot once the wearer unfolds the timepiece

transparent glass at the rear to see the inside mechanism

detailed view of the rear

so far, the timepiece design is limited to only eight units in total

project info:

name: Retrovision ‘85

brand: Hautlence | @hautlence

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Megahouse and Iriso Precision Company team up to produce the dubbed world’s smallest metal Rubik’s Cube in time for the 50th anniversary of the 3D puzzle. This one’s so tiny that the gamer might need a pair of tweezers to move or rotate it. All of its parts are made by cutting metal using the machine company’s equipment and ultra-fine trimming processes. As a result, the duo has achieved an approximate size of 1/1,000 of a regular 3×3 Rubik’s Cube.

Each square on the main body of the dubbed world’s smallest metal Rubik’s Cube is 0.16 cm x 0.16 cm x 0.16 cm, while the length of each side is 0.50 cm. The inside of the puzzle toy is still similar to the original Rubik’s Cube, so it has movable parts that can rotate and shift around despite its miniature size. These needed to be cut and shaped precisely to maintain their targeted size while allowing the gamer to still turn them. The companies say that these parts are manually assembled by hand rather than by a machine to precisely put them together.

all images courtesy of Megahouse Corporation

‘micro cutting’ involves shaping microscopic-scale parts

Producing the world’s smallest metal Rubik’s Cube, which the Guiness World Records acknowledged in August 2024, can come with a few hurdles. For Megahouse and Iriso Precision, it’s making sure that all the tiny pieces can move and rotate freely. It may sound simple, but looking at the Rubik’s Cube, which has almost the same width as three rice grains, that might just be the opposite. When the corporation and machine company assemble it, they carve out each part and fit it together one by one.

In this way, the middle part has the ‘cross’ design of the Rubik’s Cube, so the other parts move or rotate. The technique used is called ‘micro cutting,’ which also involves shaping microscopic-scale parts. On top of this, the location where the cutting happens, as well as the cutting conditions like temperature, pressure, and vibration, must be tightly controlled. These factors can also make the assembly process a bit more complicated if not followed.

RUBIK’s logo engraved in the middle of world’s smallest metal cube

RUBIK’s logo engraved on the world’s smallest metal cube

The companies say that when working at such a small scale, it’s also hard to see what is being done while cutting, so the craftsman must rely on data and their mental image of the final product instead of focusing on and watching the process directly. Thanks to Iriso Precision’s machines, they’re able to produce parts for the world’s smallest metal Rubik’s Cube as tiny as 0.0001 mm. ‘The thickness of a human hair is approximately 0.05 mm to 0.1 mm, but we are able to work with a precision of even 1/100 mm, so we use this technology to create each part,’ the teams say.

To challenge themselves even further, they’ve managed to engrave the RUBIK’S logo at the center of one of the sides, which might be challenging to see with the naked eye considering the toy’s miniature size. The dubbed world’s smallest metal Rubik’s Cube also comes with an aluminum base or case, which is a lot bigger than the cube itself. It mimics a trophy with the cube sitting in the middle of it and a serial number printed on the bottom plate. So far, the world’s smallest metal Rubik’s Cube is priced at 777,777 yen (or around 5,250 USD), excluding shipping fees.

the world’s smallest Rubik’s Cube is so tiny it may need tweezers to move or rotate

when the companies assemble the cube, they carve out each part and fit it together one by one

the Rubik’s Cube might almost have the same width as three rice grains

size difference between the world’s smallest and the normal-sized Rubik’s Cube

the cube is priced at 777,777 yen at the moment

project info:

name: Smallest Rubik’s Cube

companies: Megahouse Corporation, Iriso Precision Co. Ltd. | @megahouse_official

reservation: here

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At Homo Faber 2024, Jaeger-LeCoultre pays homage to Claude Monet and his series of Venice paintings. They replicate three of his 37 artworks as miniature paintings and recreate them on the back of their Reverso Tribute Enamel timepieces. They’ve chosen San Giorgio Maggiore at Dusk, The Grand Canal, Venice, and The Doge’s Palace to reproduce for specific reasons. The island of San Giorgio Maggiore, opposite St. Mark’s Square, is the temporary home of Homo Faber 2024 and a view that captivated Monet enough to paint it.

Sunset at the Grand Canal, Venice is as romantic as it sounds, with the church of Santa Maria della Salute seemingly hovering as it appears on the orange-tinted horizon. When Monet described The Doge’s Palace to a friend in a letter, he wrote that it was just an excuse for him to paint the atmosphere, the effect of morning light on the water. No wonder he painted it from a gondola in the middle of the canal at around eight in the morning. These paintings of Venice appear in their rightful home, brought by Jaeger-LeCoultre in the name of Monet.

all images courtesy of Jaeger-LeCoultre

The making of Reverso tribute enamel timepieces

Repainting Monet’s Venice comes with many challenges. Reproducing them in miniature form—scaling from more than 65 x 92 cm to a surface of 25 x 20 mm—is just the beginning. The masters at the Métiers Rares Atelier of Jaeger-LeCoultre managed to recreate the artist’s impasto, the textured effect of thicker paint, to evoke the dreamlike quality of the originals.

They applied 14 layers of enamel for the depth of colors. Each has three base layers, four layers of painting, and seven layers of translucent ‘fondant,’ with up to 15 separate firings at up to 800 degrees Celsius. A glance at the dials reveals that the enamelers have adorned the three watches with hand-guilloché patterns, a technique that engraves repetitive patterns onto a surface by hand.

The Doge’s Palace

Dauphine or sword-like hands for the watches’ dials

After applying these patterns, they layer them with a semi-translucent colored enamel over the top to coat them while still making them visible. This process takes around eight to nine hours per dial. Each layer needs to be fired for five layers of enamel before the final result is achieved. Another challenge that the watch brand has successfully overcome is drilling tiny holes through the enamel.

After firing, the enamel is fragile, but the masters, with their delicate touch, still manage to puncture the center of the dial so the watch hands can be correctly placed. For these hands, Jaeger-LeCoultre uses Dauphine hands, pointed and sword-like, to signal classic and elegant style. Visitors to Homo Faber 2024 can view the timepieces until September 30th, 2024. The watch brand has 10 pieces per Reverso Tribute Enamel ‘Venice Series’ model on sale.

Jaeger-LeCoultre pays homage to Claude Monet and his series of Venice paintings

recreating Monet’s San Giorgio Maggiore

detailed view of the Jaeger-LeCoultre reversible timepiece

the watche brand has replicated three of Monet’s 37 artworks as miniature paintings

Jaeger-LeCoultre reproduces the artist’s impasto as well

repainting The Grand Canal Venice

detailed view of the recreated Grand Canal Venice

these watches appear at Homo Faber 2024

there are only 10 pieces per model

project info:

name: Reverso Tribute Enamel Monet’s Venice

brand: Jaeger-LeCoultre | @jaegerlecoultre

artist: Claude Monet

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Artists Heemin Chung and Alvaro Barrington interpret the BMW i7 as miniature art cars at Frieze Seoul, which runs from September 4th to 7th, 2024. Inspired by the BMW Art Car Collection and curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the artists paint over seven miniature i7s, drawing inspiration from video games and the movement of birds, bats, and insects. During the event in Korea, BMW also showcases Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car #20, marking its Asian debut after being unveiled in Paris in May 2024.

While the brief is flexible, the artists focus on human-centered design and technological innovation as their artistic themes. Their miniature BMW i7s become a medium that highlights how people can interact with the real-life model, while also emphasizing its tech features without losing the artists’ personal flair in the process. As a nod to the i7 name, Heemin Chung and Alvaro Barrington both create seven miniature art cars, all showcased at Frieze in Seoul, an event with which BMW has been a long-term global partner since 2004.

Dr. Dre: The Chronic, 2024, Alvaro Barrington | all images courtesy of BMW

Heemin chung draws influences from ornithopters

Korean artist Heemin Chung wants to translate digital images into the physical world through paintings and sculptures. She’s interested in objects that people can touch and see in real life, rather than just being projected onto a screen, whether animated or immobile. This is how she approached her miniature BMW i7 art cars for Frieze Seoul. She taps into designers’ early days, when they turned to nature for design inspiration. It’s a sort of back-to-the-drawing-board approach, and in her case, the beginning starts with the way birds, bats, and insects move.

Ornithopters fascinate Heemin Chung. These are experimental flying machines meant to replicate the flight of birds or insects, an idea that stemmed from devising a device that could fly like them. The experiments may have failed, but they’ve found success on the Korean artist’s vision board. Her BMW i7 miniatures grow legs, arms, and torsos, as if they’ve come alive like car creatures. The artist resonates with the idea of ‘tech magic,’ a term that BMW has used to describe the wonder people feel when encountering advanced technology. It’s modern magic for Heemin Chung, at least in the way her miniature BMW i7s seem to animate to life, reaching out to viewers with their limbs.

Star Trek: the Kiss, 2024, Alvaro Barrington

Video games inspire Alvaro Barrington for his BMW i7

Moving away from ornithopters, Alvaro Barrington attempts to link cultural histories together. In his art practice, he uses burlap, textiles, postcards, and clothing, to name a few, to create his art. For the London-based artist, these materials can convey messages. He instills them historical, personal, political, or commercial notes into what he makes. At Frieze Seoul, it’s a bit more personal for him and his miniature BMW i7 art cars. He’s a fan of video games, and using them as the basis of his art cars isn’t by accident. He sees video games as both sources of entertainment and harbingers of cultural resets, especially with their use of music and historical and pop references.

His work with BMW considers video games as references painted onto the miniature BMW i7s. They resemble the graffiti-tagged vehicles in driving games. Each of these cars features a drawing inspired by a film, a music video, or a cultural figure. These references are important to Alvaro Barrington because, in several ways, the figures he painted have influenced his art practice. Viewers can see Heemin Chung and Alvaro Barrington’s miniature BMW i7 cars at Frieze Seoul between September 4th and 7th, 2024, alongside Julie Mehretu’s BMW Art Car #20.

GTA Miami (side), 2024, Alvaro Barrington

BMW i7 miniature edition by Heemin Chung, presented at Frieze Seoul 2024

Heemin Chung draws influences from ornithopters

detailed view of Heemin Chung’s miniature BMW i7 art cars at Frieze Seoul

Alvaro Barrington painting his BMW i7

artist Alvaro Barrington | photo by Lucy Emms / Gary Yeh

artist Heemin Chung | image courtesy of Thaddeus Ropac gallery, London • Paris • Salzburg • Seoul

Heemin Chung’s Ornithopter-inspired miniature BMW i7 at Frieze Seoul

project info:

name: Miniature BMW i7

manufacturer: BMW | @bmw, @bmw_korea

artists: Heemin Chung, Alvaro Barrington | @alvarobarrington

event: Frieze Seoul | @frieze.seoul, @friezeofficial

location: COEX, 513 Yeongdong-daero, Gangnam-gu, Korea

dates: September 4th to 7th, 2024

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Japanese artist Tatsuya Tanaka celebrates the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with a new series of miniature sculptures. Known for his ability to transform everyday objects into intricate tiny settings, Tanaka uses a variety of items to depict athletic scenes, including gymnastics, swimming, fencing, hurdle racing, and the newly introduced breakdancing. This collection, which showcases both his earlier works and recent creations, has been uploaded to his official Instagram account, quickly taking social media by storm.

all images courtesy of Tatsuya Tanaka via @tanaka_tatsuya

From Household Items to Tiny Olympic Events

In his Olympics – Miniature Life series, Tatsuya Tanaka uses a wide variety of common household items to craft his intricate scenes. A pair of headphones transforms into a skillful fencing foil, a sheet of music becomes a running track with hurdles, a piece of toast becomes a gymnastic mat, and colorful straws form a swimming pool. The Japanese miniature artist carefully selects objects to mimic the textures and appearances of their real-life counterparts. For example, the soft bread mimics the cushioning of a gymnastic mat, and the transparent straws with light blue stripes resemble the color and ripples of a swimming pool. Tiny figurines with expressive poses complete the pieces, faithfully illustrating the athletic scenes.

Although Tanaka has been sharing his creations for years, his work continues to amaze his followers, who praise him in the comments. Some are even inspired to create their own miniature scenes using household items. ‘An amazing perspective that surprises me again today. I’m trying it at home,’ shares a follower under the Olympic Games-themed post.

a pair of headphones transforms into a skillful fencing foil

a sheet of music becomes a running track with hurdles

a piece of pasta transforms into a ribbon for a rhythmic gymnastics performance

the transparent straws with light blue stripes resemble the color and ripples of a swimming pool

a piece of toast becomes a gymnastic mat

a face mask turns into a tiny basketball court

the miniature edition of olympic sport climbing takes place on a remote control

tiny volleyball players use a pea as their ball

a Q-tip illustrates the dynamic trajectory of a soccer ball

Tanaka even recreates the newly introduced breakdancing

project info: 

name: Olympics – Miniature Life 
artist: Tatsuya Tanaka | @tanaka_tatsuya

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