small is beautiful: miniature worlds and microeconomics

From Polly Pocket to The Roundhouse

Small is Beautiful: Miniature Worlds and Microeconomics is an ongoing research project that seeks to explore E. F. Schumacher’s Buddhist Economics in light of numerous applications around the theme of toys and the appeal, politics and poetics of miniature scale.

The central case study of this work is Bluebird Toys and the Roundhouse Trust, both set up by Sir Torquil Norman. Bluebird, a British toy company (1981-1998), the proceeds of which were invested by Sir Norman in the purchasing and renovating the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, London and establishing the charitable Roundhouse Trust that supports the development of young people’s creative skills.

The central image is one of scale: from Polly Pocket to the Roundhouse.

The project, while initially conceived as a film is now in the process of being developed with drawings and text. This blog will be a space to chart the progress of the project and form a map of the connecting elements.

The end product will be a graphic exploration that will give an introduction to Schumacher’s economics and an investigation into the appeal of the miniature in the shifting climate of ecological accountability and questions of consumption and sustainability.