Janny and Simon Warnaar - The Magical Sleigh Ride.

A Tale of Love and Winter Magic

by Pam North 

The brainchild of Janny and Simon Warnaar, Artofmini.com, is a thriving company devoted to creating atmosphere in miniature, and developing new and innovative products, such as laser-cut and paper kits, and unique individual miniatures related to special themes. What they embrace about miniatures is the philosophy that all is possible, and that a dream world may be breathed into a tiny real world that is alive and able to tell a mesmerizing story, evoking memories of past moments of joy.
Artofmini.com is a very specialized emporium for miniatures, and is a site for innovation in the dollhouse world. Their spectrum of products encompasses beautifully crafted furniture, accessories, and materials in 1:12. 1:24, and 1:48 scales, with impressive attention to quality and detail. Their love of the past is evident in the nostalgic styles and themes of their pieces. All kits come with precision laser-cut parts in 1:12 scale, have clear graphics, and instructions in four languages. The prices of their products vary from low,for the easy to make kits, and higher for the more complicated laser-cut kits and the unique special-made miniatures. Their world is full of little stories, fantasies, and precious miniatures, and they constantly are developing new themes and unique little treasures.
They explained their philosophy: “We love the ideal of times gone past, and this is reflected in our miniatures, scenes, and themes. When we are working on these, this miniature world becomes our ‘real’ world, one that should be ‘alive’ and able to tell a fascinating story. We like to think innovatively, and give old materials new life, making 'restyle' a key word.”
It had been Janny’s long-cherished wish since childhood to have a dollhouse for herself. Full-time jobs, Janny’s on the police force, and Simon's as an undertaker, had kept both of them from having enough time to devote to the world of miniatures. Their career worlds were very different from what they most wanted to pursue, but happily both now are engaged in their passion of creating tiny, wondrous things.
While their creativity ideals mesh beautifully, their work styles differ somewhat. While Simon's orderly workplace is filled with machines, Janny's workplace flirts with barely organized chaos of all kinds of materials around her. “Most of the time there is no free space on the floor and on the working tables,” Simon commented. Their individual preferences don’t hold back their production, however, and beautiful results come from their joint efforts. “Our skills come straight from our hearts; that;s the most pure thing we offer. We are self-taught, with all the inherent mistakes, trials, and errors, but that is also the best teacher in life. By following a training process, we would be influenced, and we find it important just to stay who we are. Our heads and our hands are our most valuable tools, but there are many others we cannot do without: tweezers, magnifying glasses, and various machines. One difficulty with miniatures is time; 24 hours a day is just too little!”
Their latest piece is called The Magical Sleigh Ride. “Fairy tales, love stories, wintertime, sweet animals - who doesn't love all those ingredients?” Simon asked. “We certainly do! So, in combining them all together, The Magical Sleigh Ride was born. This scene tells the story of Johnny de Meerkat. He is waiting impatiently among the snow-covered trees for his bride. Suddenly he hears a sound in the magical forest, something coming closer with great speed. Soon he sees white Arctic hares, not ordinary hares, but animals from the royal stables, and the coachman is an impressive swan. In the large, majestic sled, sitting on a leather couch, is Johnny’s bride, who gazes rapturously at him. As one may expect, after seeing each other and then being together, they live happily ever after.
Asked why they made the piece, Simon’s response was: “It is a love story. During the making of this scene/story, it gave us smiles from the beginning to the end. We hope it will give the same feeling to others when they look at it. In viewing it, one might see their own love story, and hopefully personalize it. Every element in this piece has been given careful attention, from the little footprints in the snow to the soft leather couch in the sleigh, from the dreamy look of the bride to the patiently-waiting groom. Each is an important component of the complete scene, and it turned out exactly as we  envisioned it.
The hardest part was the connecting of the hares to the sleigh,” Simon continued. “We had  to make a special wooden piece to connect the hares to the sleigh.”
The Magical Sleigh Ride has been sold, and it is now a part of the Kathleen Savage Browning Miniatures Collection in Kentucky.
This year the Warnaars realized another dream, that of visiting the United States for the first time. “It was fantastic!” Simon exclaimed. “We had the time of our lives! All the people were so incredible and kind, and we just fell in love with your country. Hopefully we will be able to come back next year.”
As for the future of miniatures, the Warnaars feel that the sky is the limit. “With all the new technologies that already exist, those that will be developed in the future, and all the unexplored areas, it always will be a challenge to find ways to apply those technologies to miniatures. One has to stay constantly alert, with an open mind, always moving forward, opening new doors, and trying new things. Our commitment to developing different miniatures and new kits unlocks the door of imagination, allowing us the opportunity to turn our dreams into reality.”
As for what's next, Simon had this to say: “At this moment we are working hard on new themes/kits,  and, of course, the Christmas gifts we send to all our website customers every year. The Christmas season is always special for us, a time of warmth, friendliness, gratitude and sharing, so every year, as a ‘thank-you’,  we send all our customers a specially-designed Christmas gift. We feel very privileged to be a small part of the world of miniatures." 

Contact Information:
Janny Warnaar
Email: info@artofmini.com
Phone: +49 4946 8989663
Address: Hauptstrasse 51
                26835 Neukamperfehn
                Germany