Bored Panda reached out to Akiko and Pierre, who shared a bit about themselves.
“Akiko Ida is Japanese and Pierre Javelle is French. We met at the French National School for Decorative Arts in Paris, where we were studying photography.
Since childhood, Akiko has always been attracted to the culinary and miniature world. As a child, she drew pictures filled with little miniature characters and used to make different kinds of food with clay before starting to make real bread and cakes. Eventually, Akiko became a culinary photographer, contributing her work to around a hundred cookbooks and several magazines.
Pierre spent his childhood in a small village in Burgundy with his nose buried in comic books. Fascinated by drawing and the world of images, the Fine Arts was both a refuge and a revelation for him. Though it was the journalism of humanist photographers that most inspired him to become a photographer, he always felt drawn to illustration and storytelling. Pierre now produces photographic illustrations on various subjects for magazines, newspapers, advertising, and publishing companies.”
We were wondering what gave the artists the idea to mix tiny figures and food to create Minimiam.
Akiko and Pierre wrote: “It also came directly from Akiko’s childhood passion, food, and miniature! (As we mentioned above) And we’re fascinated by the beauty of the details of food, and these tiny figures allow us to (re)discover all the visual treasures that even our eyes don’t catch in everyday life.”
The artists seem to be full of ideas, therefore, we wanted to know how they come up with them.
“In 2002, when an advertising agency approached Akiko to make a series of photos for food manufacturer making bakery and pastry industry products (like egg whites, yolks, butter, cream, yeast, etc.) we didn’t want to create just beautiful and appetizing images, but wanted to create something more fun and based on storytelling. And so the crème brulée was saved by firefighters, the crumbles of millefeuille were swept up by a janitorial team, a grandfather pulled his grandson along on a sled over whipped cream… and the Minimiam lexicon was born!” wrote Akiko and Pierre.
When it comes to challenges, the creators shared the hardest part of working with tiny figures and food.
“Their size and the nature/texture of food! We should be very patient and delicate when manipulating these small people, and sometimes the surface where they should exist can be quite slippery, muddy, or melting!
And also to find the best angle of each where we can see the richness of their facial and body expressions.”
The creators also wrote what changes they have noticed since they started Minimiam.
“There are more and more series created by Pierre where we can see/feel the messages for politics/history/environment. This is now another aspect of Minimiam that comes out of the pure culinary universe.”
Lastly, Akiko and Pierre added: “The spirit of Minimaim! Irony and humor. We start with a creative idea as open and neutral as possible, so as to allow viewers to continue the story themselves, to come up with their own story, without locking them into too narrow a set of reference points.”
