Long before starchitects, fashion designers, and major furniture retailers embraced the art of dollhouse decorating, neighborhood miniature stores served as a mecca of all things tiny. Dolls and Minis, an Olmsted Falls, Ohio store owned by dollhouse enthusiast Dawn Reese, is no exception, offering 20,000 accessories that range from bitty tea sets to to minuscule cuckoo clocks.
Reese's dollhouse business, oft thought of as a toy business, caters almost exclusively to adults—most of whom either want to furnish their dream house or recreate a beloved childhood home. Interestingly, only half of her clients choose to include the dolls themselves—as many think of the Lilliputian dwellings as their own. Either way, says Reese of the hobby, "Anyone who does this knows it's very, very addictive. They start looking at everything in the real world to see if it can be used in the miniature world."
Filmmaker Mika Johnson (of the film company Art+Practice) featured Dolls and Minis in Who Lives There, an installment of The Amerikans, a Vimeo series offering documentary-style peeks into the world of interesting Ohio residents. Do watch Reese's episode:
The Video:
Who Lives There from Art+Practice on Vimeo.
· How to Build a Really, Really Small House [Houzz]
· Who Lives There [Vimeo]
· All Dollhouses posts [Curbed]