miniatures Archives | Moss and Fog

Art

Incredibly Creative Miniatures by Tatsuya Tanaka

November 22, 2025 Art

The Master of Miniature, Creating Magic Every Day

We love the art of making miniatures, and the way regular objects can become huge, scenery objects, when artfully arranged.

Artist Tatsuya Tanaka is a master, able to turn household objects into mini masterpieces.

Some of his recent pieces include divers jumping off clothespins into terry towel pools, hard boiled eggs that become soaking pools, ice fishermen dropping a lure into a broken phone screen, and even a surfer catching some awesome waves made of fried rice.

Some truly wonderful creativity at work, we love this collection. You can buy compilations of his work as gifts here.

See more of his work on Instagram with over 4 million followers, where he posts daily.

Images © Copyright Tatsuya Tanaka.

Design

Tatsuya Tanaka and Muji’s Charming Miniature Collaboration

May 15, 2025 Design

As part of NYCxDesign, the master of miniatures, Tatsuya Tanaka has partnered with Japanese brand Muji on a miniature exhibition of grand scale.

Utilizing Muji’s minimalist home goods, Tanaka gives us his trademark brilliance when it comes to scenes that are small, yet packed with clever detail.

Repurposing scrubbing brushes into people harvesting wheat fields, or staples into tiny kitchen counters and tables, the artist shares the effortless creativity that comes out of his work. Muji’s ethos of simple, high-quality consumer goods is also on display.

Currently on display at Muji’s flagship North American store at 575 Fifth Avenue, it’s a fitting collaboration for both, and further adds to the power of design and creative thinking.

A person with shoulder-length dark hair smiles while holding a camera in a studio filled with various items.

The artists, Tatsuya Tanaka in his element.

A whimsical scene featuring miniature figures examining a large makeup palette, with a striped umbrella overhead. The figures include a woman in an apron and children standing by a variety of colorful eyeshadow shades, with a small dog nearby.

Here we see kids leaning over an ice cream shop, actually made from a makeup palette.

The art form is known as “mitate” in Japanese

A creative diorama featuring miniature farmers tending to crops on a landscape made from computer keyboards, with trees in the background.

Solar calculators as rice paddies.

A creative scene featuring miniature chefs cooking in a tiny kitchen setup, with tables and patrons depicted around them, a stapler, and office supplies in the background.

Staples as kitchen prep and tables.

A flat lay image featuring wooden brushes with bristles of varying lengths and textures, alongside miniature figures of people and animals engaged in farming activities.

Brushes as fields being harvested.

A miniature scene depicting a dense urban area with tall, white buildings and miniature people engaged in various activities, surrounded by small green trees.

Plugs turned into city buildings.

A whimsical scene featuring broccoli heads resembling trees with miniature figures camping and exploring around them, displayed on a wooden cutting board alongside a knife.

Broccoli as a forest camping spot.

Miniature figures swimming and diving on top of white bottle pumps with a blue towel resembling a pool.

Soap bottles and towel as diving platform.

A whimsical winter scene featuring miniature figures engaged in various activities on top of white bowls and within a snowy landscape made of soft and transparent materials.

All images © Copyright Tatsuya Tanaka.

Art

A Magical Miniature Life

January 13, 2025 Art

We’re revisiting the daily calendars from Tatsuya Tanaka who creates new miniature masterpieces every single day!

The master of miniatures has been doing so for years, and more often than not, the daily entries are delightfully creative, full of heart and depth and humor.

Here are some of our favorites from the last several weeks. See more on his website. There you can order books, postcards, merchandise, and of course, the daily calendar of delightful miniatures.

Art

More Daily Delights from Miniature Expert Tatsuya Tanaka

August 26, 2024 Art

Not only does Tatsuya Tanaka make consistently great miniature scenes, but he creates and publishes a new one every single day. That type of dedication and creativity is hard to maintain, and we’re impressed by the effort that it requires.

Simply called Miniature Calendar, Tanaka’s work is released sequentially, and the scenes continually impress with their originality, clever use of props, and sheer joy of seeing these miniature moments come to life.

Below are some recent ones from July and August, and they include strolls through a broccoli tree park, skateparks made from cafeteria trays, and cycling the rings of a tree. There are some obvious references to the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, as well as everyday moments of creativity.

Check out more of Tanaka’s work on his website.

Images © Copyright Tanaka Tatsuya.

Artisan

More Marvelous Miniatures By Tatsuya Tanaka

October 18, 2023 Artisan

The master at miniatures, Tatsuya Tanaka keeps cranking out amazing tiny scenes, one for each day of the year. The amount of creativity and craft to create so many clever miniatures is really impressive. Below is a snapshot of a month’s worth of miniatures, each one a clever creation on its own. When compiled as a daily calendar for an entire year, it’s clear that Tanaka is one of the most prolific miniature builders anywhere.

The shift in scale in his work challenges our typical perception and forces us to look at the world differently. This altered perspective is both fun and intellectually stimulating, and Tanaka’s clever use of everyday materials in creative ways feels like a great source of inspiration.

Below are just a few of our favorites from the last week.

Pencil Skirt

Power Recharge

“In essence, miniatures condense the complexity and vastness of the world into a manageable size, allowing people to engage with them in unique ways, both emotionally and intellectually.”

How to Make Tofu

Match Point

Diving Boots

Mushroom Pottery

Pasta Farm

Tape Bath

Carton Train

Fastest Record

The Phone is Frozen

See more of Tanaka’s brilliant miniature work here, here, here, and here. You can purchase calendars, t-shirts, books and more from his website.

Miniature

Highly Skilled Miniature Scenes by Felix Hernandez

September 14, 2023 Miniature

The work of Felix Hernandez is highly compelling, a form of art he calls Dreamphography.

The image above was one we were sure was on a real location, or made on a computer. But it was neither. It was a highly skilled miniature, created and photographed in a way that feels magical and new. His work is now sought after by some of the world’s biggest brands, who seek a new perspective with his skillset.

See more of his beautiful and enchanting work on his website, Behance, and Facebook

Art

Endlessly Creative Miniatures by Tatsuya Tanaka

August 9, 2023 Art

A never-ending calendar of miniature creativity.In our previous post about the wildly creative miniatures from Tatsuya Tanaka, we wrote about the ways household objects take on entirely different lives, as set pieces for miniature worlds.

We’re thrilled that the series continues, with a whole new collection that delights and surprises, from eyeglasses becoming a bicycle, to a desert scene complete with camels, made from nothing but ruffled potato chips.

The creativity on display is really lovely, we’re hoping to see this great series continue, via Colossal:

tanaki-3 tanaki-4 tanaki-5 tanaki-7 tanaki-8 tanaki-9 tanaki-10 tanaki-11 tanaki-12 tanaki-13

Craft

Tiny Treats, An Exploration of Miniature Food Worlds

July 1, 2023 Craft

A collection of amazing and hilarious miniature photography, this time in a series called Minimiam. Using figures from model train sets, characters are snapped going about their daily business of racing bikes over giant eggs, inflating old grapes, playing in the frosting snow, and skateboarding within a half-pipe avocado. Beautifully hilarious and charming, this work by Pierre Javelle and Akiko Ida is a joy to see. Via Colossal:

Art

Charmingly Creative Miniatures by Tatsuya Tanaka

February 21, 2023 Art

We love the art of miniatures, and the way regular objects can become huge, scenery objects, when artfully arranged. Artist Tatsuya Tanaka is a master, able to turn household objects into mini masterpieces. He creates a new scene every single day, and puts them into calendars.

Some of his recent pieces include divers jumping off clothespins into terry towel pools, hard boiled eggs that become soaking pools, ice fishermen dropping a lure into a broken phone screen, and even a surfer catching some awesome waves made of fried rice. Truly wonderful creativity at work, we love this latest collection.

Craft

Adorable Mini Meals by Mahnaz Miryani

November 20, 2022 Craft

Tehran-based artist Mahnaz Miryani has a knack for creating miniature, realistic versions of delicious meals and foods, from buttery croissants to toast on eggs, to even a homey apple pie.

We’ve always enjoyed a good miniature, which combines artistry with storytelling, creating tiny moments that inspire awe and joy.

The details on Miryani’s work is really impressive. The cracked eggs shells, crinkled lettuce leaves, and even the dripping syrup on the waffles are impeccably crafted.

See more of her great miniature work on Instagram. Via Colossal:

Art

More Great Miniatures from Tatsuya Tanaka

November 3, 2021 Art

It’s impossible not to be charmed by Tatsuya Tanaka and his clever miniatures. We’re even more amazed that the work is so prolific, with hundreds of scenes in his catalog. Tanaka even 3D prints many elements of his work, like the figures, which are hand painted and arranged to interact with ordinary objects.

In some of his latest work, we see face masks playing a bigger role, a reminder of our collective pandemic experience. His Instagram has over 3 million followers, where he showcases his newest projects.

Take a look at some of the most recent miniature scenes below, as well as a behind-the-scenes look of them being created. Via Trendland:

“Everyone must have had thoughts like these before: Broccoli and parsley may sometimes look like a forest of trees, and tree leaves floating on the surface of water may sometimes look like little boats. Everyday occurrences seen from a miniature perspective can bring us lots of fun thoughts. I wanted to take this way of thinking and express it through photographs, so I started to put together a “MINIATURE CALENDAR.” These photographs primarily depict diorama-style figures surrounded by daily necessities.”

—Tatsuya Tanaka

Art

Adventures in Quarantine Miniatures

June 8, 2020 Art

When a travel photographer gets quarantined for months on end, real cabin fever sets in, and they’ve got to get creative. That’s the case with Erin Sullivan, who runs the website Erin Outdoors. Her long stint inside has led to a project called Our Great Indoors, which is an exploration of miniatures, set amongst creatively staged foods and household items.

We love the way miniatures can transform you and your perspective, using ordinary items. Take a journey below through a broccoli forest, a snowy rosemary woods, and an aquamarine lake lined with asparagus trees. Via MyModernMet:

Art

Meaningful Miniatures

April 23, 2020 Art

Derrick Lin’s miniature scenes are almost believably real, until you see the giant spiral notebook and pencil in the frame. Then your perspective returns to reality, and the scene is but a tiny miniature. Lin’s masterful setups and scenery are shot entirely on an iPhone, using household items and lighting. Stuffing becomes a snowy backdrop. 3 x 5 cards become an iceberg. Clever work, check out more on his Instagram, via Colossal:

3D

Chris Toledo’s Wonderfully Realistic Miniatures

January 28, 2020 3D

Artist Chris Toledo creates 1:12 scale models that are so realistic, it’s hard to believe they’re not full size. Only when a real-scale object is placed in the scenes does the magic of his work come to life.

MyModernMet has a short interview with Toledo, where he describes his love of the craft.

We love his dedication to this unique craft, hand styling the smallest detail, from floor tiles, to tiny frying pans, to fixtures and cabinets. Amazing work.

“Since I was a kid, I loved to create,” he tells My Modern Met, “from building little houses out of sticks and pebbles in my backyard to painting portraits of my friends and family.” His father was also an influence as a contractor and a woodworker who passed down a love of furniture-making and architecture.

Art

Playing With Paint Strokes

January 10, 2020 Art

Instead of entire paintings, how about exploring a singular stroke of paint? Iranian artist Golsa Golchini has a fascinating take on an age-old medium. Placing miniature figures into 3D paint strokes, we see snorkelers, divers, and skiers in a whole different way. Really cool use of something as simple as a paint stroke. Via Colossal:

Design

Miniature Scenes Photographed Under a Blanket of Stars

October 5, 2019 Design

At first it looks as if we’ve stumbled across an idyllic little cottage and an abandoned boat at night, alone under a blanket of stars. As we see with the pullback, is a staged setup, made up of clever miniatures photographed from a perspective to make the small set look life-size. It’s the work of Samy Al Olabi, photographed under a beautiful sky in the United Arab Emirates.

We love miniature work, and think this is an especially clever use of it. The Milky Way really comes alive, and brings the set pieces into it. Via Petapixel: