Friends & Neighbours: Miko Design
You meet the nicest people on Instagram. One of these is Dutch designer, Erika Harberts from Miko Design, who, along with her graphic design work, makes the dearest, teeniest, tiniest interior scenes, into which her cat inserts herself, hilariously upsetting the scale. I love it!
Erika got in touch with me one day with the idea of making a mini Skinny interior, using our fabrics. Well, I had my parcel of prints into the mailbox and on the way to Rotterdam in two minutes flat, I tell you!
Since then, her little mini Skinny scenes have been popping up on the MikoDesign Instagram feed, making me squeal and talk in a very high voice. A Mini Skinny shop! And a house…. eeeek!
Erika is a busy lady, but she was kind enough to answer a couple of questions for me, which is great, because the whole world needs to know about her brilliant mini creations. Thanks, Erika!
Hi Erika. Tell us about your work as an illustrator and fabric designer.
Hello! I finished art school at Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, as a free monumental textile designer, but my heart was always with patterns, fabrics and drawing. I love the process of making a drawing and seeing it come to life by screen printing the design on fabric and using that to make products.
What made you start making mini interiors?
I make and sell dolls and doll kits and love sharing photos of them on my Instagram feed, I started to add little accessories to the photos and by time this grew into making all kinds of mini interiors.
I love translating real design interior product into small versions and combine them with vintage doll furniture I find on fleamarkets and secondhand stores.
What’s the mini thing you made that you’re most proud of?
Hmmm… I really like my mini version of the IKEA trolley RÅSKOG, it was quite tricky to make but turned out pretty well ?
What is your cat’s name, and how does she help you?
My cat’s name is LouLou, she is 1 year now and she loves to hang out in my garden studio, always checking out what I do. I try to make photos before she knocks down the mini cactus. Her favourite place in the studio is the dolls bed, she loves to take long naps there.
Thanks so much, Erika (and Loulou)! Find more of Erika and MikoDesign at these links: