(Elisabeth Lapierre - Control Room of Stade de France in Paris)
Rising to Big Challenges in a Mini World
by Pam North
Elisabeth Lapierre attributes her interest in miniatures to this origin: “I was married to a Scottish man, and we used to go on holidays in Faversham, Kent, where we had a friend. There was, at that time, a shop selling everything for doll houses and I used to spend some time there, looking at all the items, thinking that when I had time, I would have a doll house.”
Elisabeth’s current focus in the miniature world is unique; her main activity is making room boxes that show how people used to live in the French countryside before 1914. Each box represents a different region and a different social class, such as the house of a carpenter in Provence, a teacher's house in Limousin, or a farm in Auvergne. All the boxes are part of a museum project, and are not for sale. She also incorporates miniature scenes, such as a library, a music room or a flower shop, into lanterns that she buys, and those are for sale to benefit the miniature association that she runs. A former math teacher, she also ran a company selling safety items for children in France, and she had no formal training in the miniature field. She started making miniatures 15 years ago, learning from books to begin with, and then by experimenting. She works mainly with salvaged materials such as crates, cardboard from calendars or cereal boxes, and tissue paper from flowers.
Her most recent project was a commission to make a depiction of the control room in the Stade de France, the national stadium located just north of Paris. It was quite a departure from her comfort zone, as she explained, “At the beginning, I did not really want to take the commission, because the project was so far from the things and the period I usually work on. The commissioner gave me a lot of pictures, and it was going to be a birthday gift to a friend about to retire from the control room. Thinking it over, I realized that it would be a challenge, and would I be able to make it? Then I accepted the commission because it was a challenge.”
Elisabeth made everything in the piece herself, using the salvaged materials she was familiar with: crates, carton from thick calendars, and additional items like seed beads. “The hardest part certainly was the video mixer, since the commissioner wanted it to be lit up. I had to find a way to make the buttons, which are lit up when working. I finally used seed beads, which were attached with a nylon thread. It was very difficult to thread a very little needle, and the nylon thread kept getting away, and I hate needles anyway. It was a nightmare! I was working from the pictures given to me by the commissioner, and I knew he wanted me to be as near to reality as possible. The final piece was very near what I had envisioned, and I was paid for it, around 2000 €, to the benefit of our club. The right wall in the video room, with all the screens, was my favorite part, and the two mixing desks were the most fun to create.”
Interestingly, Elisabeth said she never adds figures to the room boxes she makes.
She finds it easy to combine home life and miniature life now that she is retired. “I'm at home in the morning and in my workshop in the afternoon, working and showing the museum to visitors.” 
Much of her inspiration comes from study. “When I'm making an historical room box, I 'm doing a lot of research about the region, the period, the type of houses or furniture I'm going to make. When I'm making a lantern, I let the size and the shape of the lantern inspire me.”
She elaborated further on her fascination with miniatures, saying, “I think it's all about creating an atmosphere in a state of perfection. It's also to face problems ( how am I going to make this or that?) and resolve those challenges.
Elisabeth is enjoying being back to her  usual work - telling the story of how people use to live before 1914 in France. “I'm making the doctor's house, circa 1900, although I’m not sure about the region yet,” she said. “I'm still working on my museum project, although I have not yet found a bigger place to display the  room boxes. I'm making the plans of a castle to show how the small province aristocracy lived in the same period. At the same time, I'm starting a big room box representing an abandoned hospital, and I’m still making some lanterns as well. I sell them in exhibitions, or in my workplace which is also the museum. I work there almost every day in the afternoon, in a small exhibition hall in which I show the room boxes I have made.”

Contact information:
Name: Elisabeth Lapierre
Business name: Les miniatures de Liz
Email: lapierre1951@gmail.com
Phone: 00 (33)546744108 and 00(33)610013753
Address: 6 rue du petit Champeroux  17350 Saint Savinien France
Website:  https://www.facebook.com/lesminiaturesdeLiz/