A Cumbrian CRAFT moment

We’ve now finally arrived in Toge (Japan) and need to start seeing something of the real place (if it ever stops raining!) A couple of months ago though, we began to research the Cumbrian success story that is “Lilliput Lane” with a view to maybe initiating some kind of collaboration with them for the our Seven Samurai project.
We were interested in the similarities between the Lake District (where Grizedale is) and Tsumari (where Toge is) regions & trying to create a piece with an economic edge that looks directly at the ‘regeneration’ concerns pertinent to both regions.
Anyway we needed no excuse to want to visit “Lilliput Lane” with their lifesize-model visitor center and family business style production line. They’re a giftware company whose miniaturised cottage collectables are a major international success story - as a company they project a compelling combination of craft / ‘cottage industry’ values and international business acumen. We were shown the amazing catalogue of buildings they have turned into ‘high quality gift products’ with an undeniably characteristic ‘Lilliput’ styling, moving from real buildings to wax models through to hand painted miniatures.

I won’t go into the details of what we subsequently proposed to Lilliput here as there’s more detail on the Seven Samurai site … suffice to say we’ve arrived here with a box of Lilliput models and an expectant interest in the houses and existing local businesses we might find. We’re intrigued to see if the shared Anglo-Japanese obsession with miniaturisation would make the Lilliput houses an item of popular curiosity with our new Japanese contacts.

Following our tour of the Lilliput factory, we also spent an afternoon with David Tait, founder of the miniatures empire, he is now enjoying an active early retirement and devoting much of his time to a ‘high spec’ Japanese style garden! His passion for vernacular architecture could win over even the most die-hard Modernist mind.

Karen returned just before we came to Toge in order to record David’s 1992 motivational/promotional slide show for Lilliput – an impressive 3 projector and swelling sound track affair we’re hoping to utilize the recording for our Tokyo debut at Super Delux!

Touring the aforementioned Japanese Garden, on our first visit, neither David or plant-buff Karen Guthrie could remember the names for each of the typical Japanese leaf types seen in Acers (!) as we left I enjoyed David’s reference to such memory lapses as age-related CRAFT moments – can’t remember a ****ing thing.

Themes : japan, Seven Samurai