My brother Graham had been making miniatures since 1992. He started making 1/12th scale furniture in his spare time such as, wash-stands, tables, dressers and then added a large range of shop counters, shelving and fittings all based on the old Victorian and Edwardian shops.
On a trip to Ironbridge Gorge museums (Shropshire UK), he got interested in the beautiful Victorian mosaic tiled floors and wondered if it would be possible to recreate them in miniature. He went on to spend many weeks researching at The Jackfield Tile Museum receiving massive amounts of help from the staff there. They allowed him to take measurements of all the shapes and sizes of the original tiles as well as to study and photograph all the old Victorian trade catalogues that were full to the brim with beautiful geometric patterns and designs.
He eventually ended up with four ranges of tiles including an infinite number of woodblock floors made from 7 real wood veneers. His speciality areas were Victorian and Edwardian floor patterns. All the floor/border patterns are exact miniature reproductions from the original catalogues at the museum.
He finally jumped in with both feet in 2002 quitting his job in engineering to concentrate on miniatures full time. His work was featured in the free online magazine available from Artisans in Miniature (AIM). If you google “AIM magazine August edition 25” and look on page 90 there is an article about his work there with loads of photos. The magazine is published online every month and is a great free resource for anyone interested in miniatures. It is packed full of articles, information and projects etc from some of the best miniature artisans around.
When Graham’s wife Anne-Marie became terminally ill in 2020 he devoted his whole life to caring for her until she very sadly passed away in March 2021. Just three months after losing his wife, business partner and sole mate he discovered he himself was terminally ill. He fought a long hard battle until he slipped away peacefully June 2022. Shortly before he passed away, he had asked my husband and me if we would take over the dolls house flooring business and do our best to keep the products available to the miniature world. We were honoured to be asked and although this is a complex product for us my husband and I decided we would do our best to honour my brother Grahams wishes much to his joy. So, here we are today using the exact same tools and techniques Graham used to create these wonderful tiles and flooring.
Because the floor packs are made up of individual tiles and I make all the tiles myself, we can customise the patterns to suit your requirements, The colours can be changed to suit your decor.
We will always try to give design help or assist with working out the quantities you will need for a particular project. You can contact us via our website contact page at www.dollshouseflooring.com and I will help as much as I can. More information on colours, patterns etc can be found on the web site also.
I hope you like the tiles, and remember, if you don’t see exactly what you are after, please get in touch, I am sure between us we can come up with a design for your perfect floor.
Karen.