As a creative and as an education geek I’m always looking for synergy (even when I hate the word) when things connect across my education-geeky work, mum life and art making – it makes me super happy.
When I was teaching high school kids about rapid prototyping as a part of the design thinking process I really wanted to model an example for them. So I gave them the example of my ‘non teaching’ life as a wallpaper and textile designer. I talked about the cost effective practice of prototyping and how, instead of wallpapering a whole house, you could paper a mini house for clients to see how it might look to live in. We looked at digital prototyping, digital mock ups and how to fill endless spaces with repeating seamless tiles. (I even ran a mini workshop on how to do it).
Then I papered a mini house just to prove my point. I wanted to show how miniatures and model-making and rapid prototyping have a purpose in the ideation process as well as in the delivery or communication of ideas. I wanted them to see how playfulness had a place in real work.
Little did I know that I would soon be hooked on tiny things, armed with an invisible shrink ray gun and zapping things left, right and centre. I can shrink my art! I can shrink my wallpaper! I can shrink my textiles! I can sew tiny cushions! I can shrink anything!
So now my absurd yet awesome hobby is making digital paper for people who love fun designs and bold colours (like me) to put into dollhouses. If only regular-sized homes could be transformed so easily! With ‘the power of the internet’ I can zoom my zapped designs around the world and wallpaper (little) houses all over the world. I just didn’t expect to enjoy it so much.
How do you know when something fits? When you try it on, of course. How do you know what might work? When you try something out for fun. Now that I have tried out making dollhouse wallpaper, it really fits. It is digital, creative, little, fun, satisfying – it ticks so many boxes. It’s just nice to do something small that makes a big difference in the (mini) design world.
You can check out my mini life at dollhousewallpaper on Instagram. Or check out my etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/katrinawardnz
It’s the little things that count in life. You just have to find your little thing.
The Teaching Tree 