Latest news with #miniatures
BBC News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The Marvellous Miniatures Workshop (w/t) hosted by Sara Cox has been commissioned for BBC One and iPlayer
BBC Daytime has commissioned eight episodes of its new series, The Marvellous Miniatures Workshop (w/t) made by MGM Alternative and presented by TV presenter, author, podcaster and BBC Radio 2 presenter Sara Cox. Professional model makers will bring places, people and iconic moments in time back to life via miniature models. These special, one-off models, will not only celebrate cherished and emotional family stories, but also tap into our collective cultural heritage around events, design and fashions, or common themes. Whether it is a life event, a snap-shot of mid-century design or a memory tied to trends of the past, these models will serve as tiny yet powerful windows into the way things were. To ensure the models are as authentic as possible, the miniaturists must embark on an investigative journey to uncover the personal stories behind each request, as well as dig into historical and cultural references to craft them as true and realistic as possible. MGM Alternative will use the latest technology and microscopic cameras to get up close and personal, capturing the minute details and craft that goes into creating these special models. Audiences will be taken on an emotional journey from start to finish, from meeting the people who want to capture their special moment, their background on why it's so important to them, to the research that goes into getting every detail correct. There will be challenges along the way, from identifying accurate furnishing colours and materials from over half a century ago, to recreating interiors and buildings that have long since been derelict. At the end of each episode is the big reveal; Have our Miniaturists faithfully re-created the place of so many memories for our contributors? And how will they react when they see their childhood memories brought back to life? Rachel Platt Commissioning Editor for BBC Daytime comments, 'Many of us will remember our first set of building blocks, train set, or dolls house, so what a thrill to have one of those miniature worlds created around your own special memory. Combining the nation's love of model-making with stories that are at once deeply personal and wonderfully relatable, each episode of this genuinely delightful series will be full of emotion, nostalgia - and exceptional skill.' Sara Cox comments; 'We all have life events that hold a special place in our heart, so I'm absolutely thrilled we are going to be recreating cherished memories and moments in time using the astonishing skills of our miniaturists. This show taps into our fascination with the tiny, from fantasy film to classic literature and as a naturally very nosey person, I personally can't wait to find out the beautiful backstory that inspires each creation. Dom Bird SVP, MGM Alternative UK comments, 'MGM is delighted to be growing our slate of BBC programmes in 2025, with this original new series combining deeply personal stories and incredible craftsmanship with joyous surprises and reveals. These perfect replicas will bring back to life those locations that changed and shaped people's lives, while the models will be small, the heart and joy in this series promises to be huge.' The Marvellous Miniatures Workshop (w/t) has been commissioned for BBC One and iPlayer by Head of BBC Daytime and Early Peak Commissioning, Rob Unsworth. The Commissioning Editor for BBC Daytime is Rachel Platt. The programme is made by MGM Alternative UK, the Series Producer is Nicki Stoker. HD3
Reuters
23-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Warhammer 40K maker Games Workshop expects higher annual profit
May 23 (Reuters) - British miniature wargames maker Games Workshop (GAW.L), opens new tab on Friday said it expects core operating profit for the year ending June 2025 to be 18.3% higher than a year earlier, as it benefits from robust demand for its popular "Warhammer 40K" series. The company sells its costly and fantastical medieval fantasy-themed wargame miniatures through both direct sales and third-party retail outlets. The Nottingham-headquartered company which last year struck a deal with Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab to adapt its Warhammer 40k universe for film and TV, expects FY 2024-25 core operating profit of at least 210 million pounds ($282.45 million), up from 174.8 million pounds a year earlier. The recently promoted FTSE 100 firm also said it expects annual core revenue to be up 12.4% to 560 million pounds. ($1 = 0.7435 pounds)
Khaleej Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
In troubled world, grown-ups find joy in doll's houses
A log burns in the hearth in the artfully lit drawing room. The armchairs look plush and inviting. Glasses and a bottle of wine stand ready as a grandfather clock keeps time. It is all straight out of a glossy magazine and yet every carefully crafted item in the room could fit into the palm of one hand. "I love Victorian (19th century) houses and always wanted to live in one but it never happened," laughed doll's house enthusiast Michele Simmons, admiring the cosy miniature scene by historical specialists Mulvany & Rogers. The 57-year-old corporate recruiter revived her childhood passion for doll's houses during the pandemic and has since "flipped" about 10, buying them, doing them up and selling them on. She and her daughter thought nothing of flying all night from Boston in the United States to hunt for tiny curtains and a child's crib at the leading Kensington Dollshouse festival in London. "I love it! You don't think about anything else when you are doing this," she told AFP, admitting she often had to be dragged out of her work shed to feed her children as she became so absorbed. Exquisite miniatures The annual festival has been gathering some of the world's finest miniature craftspeople since 1985, celebrating a hobby that has seen rising interest recently and a mushrooming of online activity. It showcases tiny versions of anything needed to furnish a house, from chandeliers and paintings to mahogany dining tables and kitchen items, all with steep price tags. Doll's houses may be traditionally associated with children, but this high-end miniature collecting is very much an adult hobby. "This is craftspeople working on just exquisite things," said self-confessed "tiny-obsessed" Rachel Collings, who bought toys from renowned miniaturists Laurence & Angela St. Leger. Every single one of her purchases, which cost at least £40 ($53), fits easily into a small plastic container and will be added to her collection of equally small items. "I've got half a cut lemon. Just imagine the size of that. A lemon squeezer and a pastry brush and a hand whisk that actually works," said the 47-year-old editor. "It's an inner child thing. These things are just so beautiful." Doll's houses originated from Europe in the 1500s when they were used to display the miniature possessions of the wealthy. Just as at the London festival, these so-called "baby houses" were strictly for adults, not children. Retired midwife Susan Evans, 67, on her annual pilgrimage from Colwyn Bay in north Wales, does not just have one doll's house. "I have a whole village," she said. "It's got 18 Victorian shops, a school, a manor house, a pub and a now a church," she said, adding that the church had cost over £4,000. Initially the hobby was just a stress-buster to help her unwind, but she has now raised thousands of pounds hosting groups to visit the display in her home. "It's my passion. It's escapism and it's about using your imagination, which I think is very good for your mental health," she said. 'In control' Kensington Dollshouse organiser Charlotte Stokoe said there was currently huge interest in doll's houses and miniatures compared to before the pandemic. "When the world itself is going a bit crazy with so much stress in everyone's lives, it's quite relaxing. You are in control," she said, adding that many people had delighted in pulling out old doll's houses during the Covid lockdowns. And at a time of rising costs, she said, people had "discovered they can do interior design that maybe they can't do with their own homes -- in small scale it's so much more doable". Medical anthropologist Dalia Iskander of University College London (UCL) has spent three years researching the subject for her forthcoming book "Miniature Antidotes". "For many people it's a way of exploring their own experiences and memories and imagination and incorporating that into these miniature worlds," she said. A whole range of medical issues such as depression or anxiety could all be explored through miniatures in a "beneficial" way, she added. Miniatures enthusiast Collings said the hobby had become such a source of happiness that her 12-year-old daughter also got involved. She urged anyone to give it a try. "When everything is difficult, there are these tiny things," she said. "Sometimes I just go and sit and look at them and it just makes me happy."
Malay Mail
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Malay Mail
When the world gets too crazy, shrink your problems — dollhouse style
LONDON, May 22 — A log burns in the hearth in the artfully lit drawing room. The armchairs look plush and inviting. Glasses and a bottle of wine stand ready as a grandfather clock keeps time. It is all straight out of a glossy magazine and yet every carefully crafted item in the room could fit into the palm of one hand. 'I love Victorian (19th century) houses and always wanted to live in one but it never happened,' laughed doll's house enthusiast Michele Simmons, admiring the cosy miniature scene by historical specialists Mulvany & Rogers. The 57-year-old corporate recruiter revived her childhood passion for doll's houses during the pandemic and has since 'flipped' about 10, buying them, doing them up and selling them on. She and her daughter thought nothing of flying all night from Boston in the United States to hunt for tiny curtains and a child's crib at the leading Kensington Dollshouse festival in London. 'I love it! You don't think about anything else when you are doing this,' she told AFP, admitting she often had to be dragged out of her work shed to feed her children as she became so absorbed. Exquisite miniatures The annual festival has been gathering some of the world's finest miniature craftspeople since 1985, celebrating a hobby that has seen rising interest recently and a mushrooming of online activity. It showcases tiny versions of anything needed to furnish a house, from chandeliers and paintings to mahogany dining tables and kitchen items, all with steep price tags. Miniatures at the London Dollhouse Showcase on dispaly in London May 16, 2025. — AFP pic Doll's houses may be traditionally associated with children, but this high-end miniature collecting is very much an adult hobby. 'This is craftspeople working on just exquisite things,' said self-confessed 'tiny-obsessed' Rachel Collings, who bought toys from renowned miniaturists Laurence & Angela St. Leger. Every single one of her purchases, which cost at least £40 (RM229), fits easily into a small plastic container and will be added to her collection of equally small items. 'I've got half a cut lemon. Just imagine the size of that. A lemon squeezer and a pastry brush and a hand whisk that actually works,' said the 47-year-old editor. 'It's an inner child thing. These things are just so beautiful.' Doll's houses originated from Europe in the 1500s when they were used to display the miniature possessions of the wealthy. Just as at the London festival, these so-called 'baby houses' were strictly for adults, not children. Retired midwife Susan Evans, 67, on her annual pilgrimage from Colwyn Bay in north Wales, does not just have one doll's house. 'I have a whole village,' she said. 'It's got 18 Victorian shops, a school, a manor house, a pub and a now a church,' she said, adding that the church had cost over £4,000. Initially the hobby was just a stress-buster to help her unwind, but she has now raised thousands of pounds hosting groups to visit the display in her home. 'It's my passion. It's escapism and it's about using your imagination, which I think is very good for your mental health,' she said. 'In control' Kensington Dollshouse organiser Charlotte Stokoe said there was currently huge interest in doll's houses and miniatures compared to before the pandemic. Kensington Dollshouse organiser Charlotte Stokoe said there was currently huge interest in doll's houses and miniatures compared to before the pandemic. — AFP pic 'When the world itself is going a bit crazy with so much stress in everyone's lives, it's quite relaxing. You are in control,' she said, adding that many people had delighted in pulling out old doll's houses during the Covid lockdowns. And at a time of rising costs, she said, people had 'discovered they can do interior design that maybe they can't do with their own homes — in small scale it's so much more doable'. Medical anthropologist Dalia Iskander of University College London (UCL) has spent three years researching the subject for her forthcoming book 'Miniature Antidotes'. 'For many people it's a way of exploring their own experiences and memories and imagination and incorporating that into these miniature worlds,' she said. A whole range of medical issues such as depression or anxiety could all be explored through miniatures in a 'beneficial' way, she added. Miniatures enthusiast Collings said the hobby had become such a source of happiness that her 12-year-old daughter also got involved. She urged anyone to give it a try. 'When everything is difficult, there are these tiny things,' she said. 'Sometimes I just go and sit and look at them and it just makes me happy.' — AFP
Gizmodo
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Wizkids Apologizes After Its Dodgy ‘Baldur's Gate 3' Miniatures Hit With Vicious Mockery
After pictures of in-hand copies of Wizkids' new pre-painted Baldur's Gate 3 miniatures emerged and were promptly ridiculed last week, the toymaker has announced plans to offer complete refunds to players disappointed by the horrifying paint jobs that turned Faerun's finest into eldritch abominations. The controversy around Wizkids' new $50 Icons of the Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 went viral last week, when players who had pre-ordered the set of seven pre-painted miniatures of the main party from Larian's hit D&D video game found them arriving with almost comically bad paint applications—significantly worse than the production images used to sell the set promoted, which were themselves already significantly worse than the images used for the highly anticipated set's reveal last year. Although no one expected seven mass-market miniatures to hit the quality of, say, a Golden Demon entrant, when Karlach's eyes start slipping halfway down her face, Lae'zel's hair is half Githyanki-skintone colored, and Gale looks more like a Dollar Tree Matt Berry, something has gone clearly wrong. Thankfully, Wizkids agrees. In a statement released to the company's official website today, Wizkids offered an apology for the quality of its Baldur's Gate 3 minis. 'As a company, WizKids seeks to create products that enhance and add to the enjoyment of game play. We want our customers to build long-lasting, fond memories around game nights with friends and family using our products,' the statement opens. 'Unfortunately, we missed the mark on this goal with the D&D Icons of the Realms: Baldur's Gate 3 Character Boxed Set.' Wizkids will offer complete refunds to anyone who purchased the set directly from the company, but also offered that anyone who purchased the box set through their local game store can return it to point of purchase for a complete refund as well. Should anyone be brave enough to want a replacement instead, they can also fill out an online form to receive a set that Wizkids will 'ensure that it meets the standards expected.' Wizkids has also removed the Icons of the Realm set from its webstore, so anyone looking to try and buy a questionable piece of Baldur's Gate 3 history might find themselves out of luck. 'Please accept our sincerest apologies for the frustration and disappointment these quality issues caused our customers. We, too, feel the same as the final product did not meet our expectations or that of our Wizards of the Coast partner,' the statement concluded. 'Our teams are working to find the best solutions to resolve this for all involved and to work with you, our customers, to fix this.' Hasbro's broader stewardship of Baldur's Gate 3 in the wake of Larian officially moving on from the game after its latest patch has been marked by a series of unfortunate public mishaps as it seeks to capitalize on the immense success of the 2023 smash hit. In a much less funny situation than badly painted miniatures, earlier this year Wizards of the Coast scrapped its much-vaunted virtual tabletop project Sigil, which had extensively leveraged the ability to use characters like Baldur's Gate's Karlach and Astarion in promotional material. Hopefully we get a few more critical hits rather than natural 1s, whatever the company decides to do with BG3 next.
