I fell in love with Henry Colbert's work when I first laid eyes on his Art Deco house in Jean Nisbett's book
The Modern Dolls' House (2004). Years later, here I am staring at these gorgeous works of art and reading a brilliant article on his work (THANKS AGAIN Writing Sideways!) I scanned the color copies of the article from
Dollhouse Miniatures magazine and you can
download the article in its entirety here (thanks
DudeCraft, I borrowed your idea to use MediaFire to share this file). I am sure this is copyright infringement, but I couldn't buy the Sept 07 issue anywhere, so we'll see how long I can keep it up. The image quality is the best I could get scanning the color copies of the magazine, but still quite drool worthy. Click on images to see the larger version. Enjoy!
House in Poole, Dorset — The Amyas PetiteHenry grew up in "Barnet, Hertfordshire, just north of London, his world was a wealth of modern inspirations: the architecture of his local cinema; Arnos Grove, the nearby underground station; the Penguin Pool at the London Zoo; a Sun Trap House he passed on the way to school; and a Clarice Cliff vase from EW. Woolworth sitting on his mantel. Nearly 70 years later, many of these landmarks Henry remembers still look fresh and modern."
House in Hendon, London — The Amyas DeluxeIn 1997, ill health forced Henry into early retirement and he began to search for a hobby that could combine his skills and background in architecture, engineering, computers and a home workshop to die for. "Having attended some local miniature shows, Henry realized no one was making modern-era dollhouses. With interest piqued, he attended an evening class on 20th century architecture, bought a camera, and set out to photograph every Art Deco house he could find within a 150-mile radius of his home. Two houses stood out from the rest: a small house in Poole, Dorset, and a larger house with interesting features in Hendon, London."
The Amyas Grande"Since the style of his dollhouses would be unique, and no parts readily available in miniature shops, apart from the hardware, Henry had to design and build every component himself. For the next 18 months he experimented by trial and error, producing the necessary jigs and fixtures to build his first models. He uses computer-aided-design (CAD) software to design each module; walls, ceilings, and floors are constructed from top-quality birch plywood with lime-wood trim. His dollhouse designs leave no room for error; the minimalist style dictates that mistakes cannot be covered up with paint, paper, or fancy trim."
The Amyas Grande Deluxe"With key components designed and prototyped, he was now ready to launch three models that would incorporate certain key design elements. Designated the Amyas series in honor of New Zealand native Amyas Connell (1901-1980), who studied architecture in England in the 1920s and designed High & Over, one of the first International Style houses in England. Along with architect Basil Ward, they later designed their Sun House for a proposed Moderne community to complement High & Over. When war intervened, the project ended with only four houses constructed. The Amyas Petite, inspired by the Poole house, has Crittall (steel) windows, a flat roof and sun terrace, a portholed front door, and a conventional staircase."
"The Amyas Deluxe, a combination of the Poole and London homes, is a medium-sized dollhouse with the same features of the Petite, plus a flat-roofed wing, railed porch, imposing entrance doors, portholes, decorative chevrons on the bay wall, a spiral staircase, and wood-strip floors. His Amyas Grande contains all these features plus symmetrical front bays on either side of the central hall. Later Henry added an Amyas Petite Deluxe. Each house is one room deep, to make them, as Henry says, 'playable.'"
Sun House"Henry has also reproduced a Sun House in 1:24 scale, using original house plans and photographs to ensure authenticity. The finished product is mounted on a turntable with hinged panels to access all the rooms; the house is fully electrified and has been fitted with a bathroom and kitchen."
"As demands for dollhouse accessories has grown, Henry has also designed period lighting, fireplaces, bathroom fixtures, and even a swimming pool illuminated with blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that shine beneath the resin to create an underwater glow. The pool steps are nickel-coated brass cast into the resin to create an underwater step. The pool deck is tiled with products from Richard Stacey. The end result is impressive and will delight anyone desiring a swimming pool for their dollhouse."
"With his meticulous attention to detail, Henry typically makes two dollhouses a year. His dollhouses have found homes throughout England and Scotland, with one currently under way for a customer in Wales. As interest in Art Deco has grown in the U.S., and accessories are becoming more available, hopes are that one of his houses will find a home outside the U.K." As of the writing of this article three years ago, Henry is stiff with arthritis, and is booked with orders for the next 18 months. I've read elsewhere that the wait list is over 2 years now. By my calculations there should be at least 15-20 of Henry's dollhouses in existence. I wish the owners would share some photos of these treasures.
The article continues with the topic of the future of dollhouses and miniatures artisans and the replacement of small miniature/hobby/toy shops with the big-box craft stores. It's a great read, but a much longer conversation that I'll save for later.
I have an email in to Henry and I will post his response if the email still works.
Here are pictures of the four constructed houses by Amyas Connell and Basil Ward.
Sun House 2 & Sun House 1,
Sun House 3 and
High & Over.
(Henry Colbert images from article "Thoroughly Moderne Henry Colbert" by Deb Weissler published in Dollhouse Miniatures Sept 07 issue, top High & Over and Sun House pictures from flickr page of Metro-land revisited and bottom High & Over image from achome.co.uk)
Looks like LBrandt has another mini mini up in her Esty shop. The the last two sold for $90 and $50. I'm guessing she'll keep building new ones when this sells.
Are you kidding me!?!? Have you seen this modern and eco-friendly dollhouse by Brinca Dada? Of course you have, it was all the buzz last month, but that's what I get for tuning out for the past few months. CallSmall blogged a great post with links to all of the other posts on this house plus more information from one of the heads of the company, Doug Rollins read more here.
I just wanted to say thanks for all of the emails, tips and comments! I do read them even though I disappear frequently, I will be blogging more soon. Eventually, I will get my backlog of photos up on this blog. I randomly have only blogged 33 posts a year, I plan to break that this year. Between the kids, work and volunteer obligations, I haven't been able to find the time finish the KHouse, but here is a sneak peak of one of the rooms I'm working on. Room details to come in next post. To be continued...
The amount of detail that goes into Steve Beebe's miniatures absolutely amazes me. He loves crafting these Lloyd Wright style houses in various forms. If you are interested in a version of this house, Steve has offered to craft you one for $95 (basically a wholesale price). It would include furnishings. You can request a house that has furniture glued into place, or a packet of loose furnishings. Contact Steve and mention you saw this offer on this blog; his email is on his website stevebeebe.com.
These two miniature model railroads are crafted in the style of a theme park are truly impressive. I think I would go blind trying to build these myself.
Over in the land down under, Small Worlds Sculptures has moved to Studio SWS. I am waiting with baited breath to see more photos of their Duesbury Miniature House that they will be selling along with a small range of modern furniture.
The Maison de Plasique made of colored and clear Acrylic is available for $750. The house is inspired by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. His 1950s Farnsworth House is one of the houses I would like to build a miniature of. It's on my list. 
Mahesha and Amrita also make a variety of cool Acrylic chairs. This table and chair set is my favorite, and sells for $45. Check out all of their stuff at studio-sws.blogspot.com.
In one of my dream dollhouses I will have a black and white room, eventually. I stumbled across this painted room by Janine Rewell who is a Helsinki-based freelancing illustrator and graphic designer. I've had such a hard time finding wallpaper that I love, that I might just skip it and try paint, although it will probably not look as cool as this.
LBrandt's Etsy shop has two really cool mini mini houses. I had stumbled across this Etsy shop and saw the miniGarden dwellings with the mini Eames and Wegner designer chairs, but thankfully Modern MC sent me the links to these beauties. Thanks for the great tip!
"As demands for dollhouse accessories has grown, Henry has also designed period lighting, fireplaces, bathroom fixtures, and even a swimming pool illuminated with blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs) that shine beneath the resin to create an underwater glow. The pool steps are nickel-coated brass cast into the resin to create an underwater step. The pool deck is tiled with products from Richard Stacey. The end result is impressive and will delight anyone desiring a swimming pool for their dollhouse."
"With his meticulous attention to detail, Henry typically makes two dollhouses a year. His dollhouses have found homes throughout England and Scotland, with one currently under way for a customer in Wales. As interest in Art Deco has grown in the U.S., and accessories are becoming more available, hopes are that one of his houses will find a home outside the U.K." As of the writing of this article three years ago, Henry is stiff with arthritis, and is booked with orders for the next 18 months. I've read elsewhere that the wait list is over 2 years now. By my calculations there should be at least 15-20 of Henry's dollhouses in existence. I wish the owners would share some photos of these treasures. 
Here are pictures of the four constructed houses by Amyas Connell and Basil Ward. Sun House 2 & Sun House 1, Sun House 3 and High & Over.
Back in November I asked if anyone had the September 2007 issue of Dollhouse Miniatures with the article on Henry Colbert. Lo and behold, Writing Sideways of everyminithing.blogspot.com said she would be willing to scan and send me a copy. I was expecting a few photos but was extremely surprised to see a 6 page spread with gorgeous color photos, detailed article and Henry's email!!! I will post images and details tomorrow, but wanted to send a HUGE THANK YOU Writing Sideways. It truly made my year! 
Well, it's a start. The first picture is just to show the room layout. The rooms are slowly coming together, but as soon as I photograph it, I want to change it. Half the fun I guess. Lighting is an issue, I'll be working on that. More to come.
To recap, as I'm guessing not everyone reads the comments... a few days ago I posted Modern MC's photo of the 1:144 scale Fallingwater dollhouse made by Steven Beebe. Callsmall was in NYC shortly after and went into a dollhouse store on the Upper East Side, Tiny Doll House, where they had some very nice looking 1:144 houses by none other than Steven Beebe. There was even a Frank Lloyd Wright-looking house. Callsmall found out that the owner (who wasn't there) deals with Beebe directly. It seemed like he is an artisan who sells directly to specialty stores. Callsmall was planning to call to speak to the owner to learn more.
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