Hiltl Building. Zurich

Oh. Oh. Oh. This is the TinyBuilding I am most proud of [excuse the bad grammar]! So much detail. This TinyBuilding is made from the business cards from a landmark vegetarian restaurant in Zurich. I've written about it in some earlier posts which accompanied much simpler and smaller Hiltl buildings.

Because their business cards are s-o-o-o-o nice, I am drawn to them again and again. And the cards I used for this special version are from my first visit there a couple years ago. My daughter and I had lunch there with the brother and fiance [now married] of one of my daughter's best girlfriends...the one who introduced her to her now husband of the Family Crest fame. In any case, we were so thrilled to find such a delicious vegetarian restaurant and to enjoy the charming company of our hosts, I just "had" to memorialize the visit with this rather intricate Hiltl building...Then, I sent it off to them without taking any pictures. Oops. It has taken a couple years for me to retrieve these...

This Tinybuilding is my attempt to render the actual Hiltl building. and, if I may say so myself, I did an excellent job. Even though this version is only about 3 inches tall [the Hiltl business cards are vertical instead of the typical horizontal format] by about 2-1/2 inches wide, I've managed to cut in the tiny, tiny windows and apply the tiny, tiny awnings just as they are on the real thing!!! Yum! [If you want to see for yourself, you can go to the Hiltl link...I think they have a photo of the building on there...]

c.2006

Frame Eleven. New York City and Zurich

This tinybuilding was made from a couple business cards for Darko Karas' motion graphics company in NYC. Darko is Jane's partner-in-crime-and-love.

I tried to do the card's graphics justice by placing and cutting the windows and doors in this tinybuilding at interesting locations and with unusual compositions-for windows, at least...I let the lines on the card dictate the positions and sizes of the cuts. Nice, huh?

c. 2006

Toblerone Swiss Chalet. New York City

This is another tinybuilding from Jane's SDOTY Party- the one with the Swiss theme- for party favors.

Cute little cabin in a snow-filled valley, waiting for the skiers to return for rosti and schuemli pfluemli. They can sit on the front deck and put their feet up on the railing....Then maybe some chocolate for dessert....

I love this little cabin...Makes me very happy to look at it.

c. 2005

Toblerone Ski Lodge. Switzerland

Speaking of Switzerland, this rather crass construction is one-of-many made for Jane's 'Shortest-Day-of -the-Year Party a couple years ago. The party theme was 'Swiss', with raclette as the main course. Jane asked me to make party favors for the guests - a challenge to make a dozen quickly.

Christina asked her Mom to send Swiss packaging so I could have authentic materials to work with. However, I was forced to buy a couple of Toblerone chocolate bars, just to be sure I had enough cardstock. You know how it is - anything for your kids...

I'm planning to re-collect and photograph the favors...perhaps we can have a 'Longest-Day-of-the-Year' Party this summer, and have a reunion of people, food and tinybuildings. I'm ready...how about you, Jane?

This tinybuilding is one of the larger ones: about 1-1/2 inch cube. I researched online to find photos of swiss ski cabins/cottages, then copied their design, including the balconies, roof pitch, overhangs, window spacing....Got to be as accurate as possible at 1-1/2 inch and working with cardboard....

c. 2005

Hiltl Cottages. Zurich

These tiny cottages, with steep roofs to shed the snow in ski season, are made from business cards of a great vegetarian restaurant, an institution, in Zurich. Jane and I ate there with Christina Ruegg's brother and his now-wife, a couple years ago. I wish there were such a place in Atlanta or even NYC or SFO.

Like the Toblerone tinybuilding, they were made for Jane's SDOTY Party.

The tinybuildings are *tiny* - about 1/2 inch square, and 3/4 inch tall. Because they're so small, I made two of them so they could protect each other....

As a 'thank you' for introducing us to this wonderful food place, I made
Christina's brother a replica of the Hiltl building. It is the most complex tinybuilding I've ever made. I'm hoping to get photos of it from him, because the ones I had were lost in an earlier computer meltdown.

c. 2005