Life in Lilliput

In a room in West Sussex, magic is being created from pieces of cardboard, plastic bottles, pen lids, crayons and glue. Mark Palmer meets William Davies, film animator turned miniature-home maker

- Mark Palmer

SOMETHING extraordinary is going on in a small upstairs room near the centre of Chichester in West Sussex. Here, a young man spends up to 14 hours a day surrounded by cardboard, scalpels, Biros, old plastic bottles, crayons, glue, acrylic paint, Styrofoam, various bits of wood, sponges, a table saw—and photographs. The photographs are of houses, from which William Davies creates three-dimensional miniature models with such exquisite attention to detail that you wonder why such a talent hasn’t been scooped up by a film-production company or grand architectural practice. It might be because if there’s one thing the 28 year old needs to improve on, it’s the ability to sell himself—to find a killer commercial instinct—but perhaps that’s not his style.

Mr Davies is an artist who can turn his hand to all manner of creative forms and it seems his reward comes from the sheer satisfaction of seeing the fruits of his labour and the pleasure it gives to his customers. This is part of the charm of Home in Miniature, the fledgling business run from his parents’ house, down a quiet close near the south coast. ‘I think the idea came as a result of family walks as a child,’ reflects Mr Davies. ‘From an early age, I noticed that West Sussex was full of wonderful villages, with houses of all different shapes and materials, including flint, but it’s only recently that it’s become more than a sideline.’