Meet Lara, the maker who turned life’s big changes into tiny worlds

How a childhood love of cardboard wheely bins led to a Dollhouses & Miniatures obsession, and a creative ritual she never wants to give up.

Lara (or La, as most people call her) is from Glasgow, Scotland, and has spent her career weaving between food, crafts, and photography. She has always needed to make things with her hands. Baking, crochet, paper crafts, home decorating: if it involves creating something from nothing, she's in.

When life threw some big changes her way last year, she found herself returning to something she had loved as a child: miniatures. That's when she discovered the Dollhouses & Miniatures course, and things got properly obsessive from there.

You’ve loved miniatures since you were a kid. What does that look like?

I used to spend days on end in my own imaginative world. I played with Madeline dolls and would build cardboard houses and accessories for them. My absolute go-to was crafting wheely bins: a cardboard bin with buttons for wheels and a sock as the trash bag. I remember proudly sharing it in Show and Tell at primary school. I’m not sure everyone understood why I was so proud of it!

Where do you find inspiration now?

The exciting thing about miniatures is that you can make anything. All you need to do is scale it down. I find colour combinations in clothing brands, design ideas in interior magazines, and ideas for polymer clay food from my cookbook collection. I love France and French interiors, so that tends to be my go-to aesthetic, with a modern twist.

Walk us through how a project comes to life.

For rooms (especially kitchens) I start on Pinterest, finding styles and details I’m drawn to. Then I raid my shelves, or honestly the bin, for materials that might work. If I see a table or cooker I like in real life, I’ll find its measurements online and divide by 12 to get the miniature scale.

I always have a rough idea of the finished result, but the exciting part is not having a fixed plan. Just playing until something works. I’ve spent most of my life on tight schedules, so I try to let myself go with whatever feels right. It stressed me out at first, because I felt like I always needed results. But I’ve slowly realised the process itself is the most enjoyable part.

What do you love most about making with your hands?

It’s been such a vital ritual for me this past year. I’m always amazed by the skills you pick up. And I think everyone is struggling with how much we rely on our phones. Miniatures are the perfect antidote to that. You simply can’t scroll and make at the same time.

One piece of advice for a new maker?

Try things and don’t be scared. It’s a hobby. It doesn’t have to be perfect the first time, and there’s no scary boss at the other end critiquing you. The most important thing is to enjoy the process and relax.

I’d also add: the best thing about miniatures is that you can use anything you have lying around the house. The course opened my eyes to how many everyday materials can become something beautiful. Egg cartons, bottle tops, things you’d normally throw away.

If you could build any dream dollhouse, what would it look like?

I was obsessed with The Borrowers as a child, and I absolutely adore the style of Sam and Julia mouse houses. That aesthetic where real everyday objects become furniture: a thread spool as a bedside table, beer caps as seats. I’ve made a few cardboard mouse houses over the past year, but my dream is to build a large dollhouse with that whole vibe. It’s my favourite thing: when something completely ordinary becomes something magical just by changing the scale.

What’s the biggest thing the course gave you?

The endless creativity in the course always makes me feel excited to start a new project. The big lesson was that anything can dollhouse, which has become a real problem in thrift shops because now I nearly buy everything.

Most of all, going through each step-by-step gave me confidence to try things I never would have attempted before. I genuinely didn’t think it was possible to make a tiny upholstered sofa. Working through that module and finishing it, that sense of achievement was everything.