Small Stories: At Home in a Dolls' House


There's a fantastic-looking new exhibition about twelve extraordinary dollhouses, spanning 300 years, from the U.K.'s Museum of Childhood. Entitled Small Stories: At Home in a Dolls' House, the presentation is multi-dimensional and multi-sensory -- not only are there houses, but complementary audio stories about the inhabitants. These stories provide a window on the lives lived in these famous and popular homes from the museum's collection, which date from 1712 to 2001.

Highlights from the exhibition include:







Jennys Home (1960s)




There is also a "Dream House" component of the exhibition, which includes room boxes dreamed up by contemporary designers, inspired by the houses in the show. Here are a few of my favorites:

A Night in the Studio by Ina Hyun K Shin


Room with a View by Nancy Edwards




Wellbeing Bathroom by Roger Arguer


In addition to the houses, audio stories, and designer room boxes, the exhibition website provides access to writings about dollhouses, called "Small Stories." Topics range from conservation, to gender roles, to furniture making. There's also a great blog that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the collection.

You can also access Tweets and online mentions of the show on Storify and see some wonderful pictures on Pinterest.

Pinned from http://www.pinterest.com/source/collections.vam.ac.uk/

The book Dolls' Houses from the V&A Museum of Childhood, written by Halina Pasierbska, was produced in conjunction with the show. I've already purchased by copy -- it's available on Barnes & Noble and other retailers in the U.S.

I would love to go see the show in person...maybe by some stroke of luck I'll find myself in London before September 6, 2015!

Please let me know if you have seen it!