Life can be fun if we let it be. We can always find meaning in the mundane that even the smallest, the most trivial, and the most ordinary stuff can turn into something great and take us by surprise. Let your imagination go wild and see where it takes you. Does it ever occur to you that broccoli looks like a forest of trees and earphones are like showerheads? What is it like to surf on cabbage?
‘When people ask me about my job, I will tell them my job is to turn broccoli into trees,’ said Tatsuya Tanaka in an interview.
These questions had once slipped past Tatsuya Tanaka’s mind. To bring his ideas to life, he has created a ‘Miniature Calendar’ website where he uploads a photo every day since 2011 that depict diorama-style figures surrounded by daily necessities. Through the artist’s lens, the everyday life of the miniatures, e.g. swimming, surfing, showering, chilling in a park, becomes delightful and interesting scenarios, and ordinary stuff is put to good use. He hopes his creative work can bring a new perspective on people’s lives.
Tatsuya Tanaka once built a miniature world for Eason Chan’s album cover.
Anything can take an important role in Tatsuya Tanaka’s miniature world, from piano, beer bottles to almonds and rubber bands. He never misses out any types of everyday items that allow him to express his creativity.
Stationery:
1. Leave your footprints on a field of snow
2. The shredded rain
3. Take a thrilling drop ride on the paper clips
4. I’ve got a stack of staples to work on
5. Ant-Man & The Wasp
6. Pacific Rim
Food:
1. Jelly cup fountain
2. Let’s get around the pineapple table
3. What a great egg spa!
4. An exciting banana ride
5. ‘Mum, I want a balloon!’
6. UFO spotted!
Personal hygiene products:
1. Ski lift on a shaver
2. Do you wanna build a swab-man?
3. Play the elec-comb
4. Brushy Fountain
5. Warning! Avalanche
6. High jump over the floss
Electronics:
1. Exciting memory
2. Smart UFO sucking the cows up
3. Ultra small bakery
4. A big mouse whale
5. Japanese castle
6. The ‘internet’
It is not easy to come up with ground-breaking ideas like these, especially when you have to upload a photo a day. Tatsuya Tanaka admitted that it took him a while to get his thinking ‘twisted’ and get used to the practice of thinking from a miniature’s perspective. That’s how design or any other creativity industries work too. We should keep training ourselves to be more creative and exploring our creative capacities.
Sources of Images
www.miniature-calendar.com
© 2018 CC+