[Morrison's Furniture Studio began in 1996] I started making furniture in this scale because I always considered some furniture to be sculpture- even more so in this size. The more realistic the scale—especially the scale of materials and textures, the more intriguing. The first piece I made was an armless “Hollywood” sofa in a black and white tweed with linen pillows. We lived in a house on the side of a steep hill in California. It thrilled me to set the sofa on a table in front of the window with the large valley in the background—the sun streaming in across the pillows. If you looked at it from the right angle, it became real; the illusion put the mountains in 1:6 scale. I added a chair and coffee table and it became a separate world. I remembered I had an old Ken doll from 1962. He fit the scene perfectly and he was humorous..that was what hooked me. I could create this world and I could people it. When I began to photograph it, I had to have more furniture. Next, came a showroom… for the sake of the photography. I added a Lucille Ball doll to be a customer—buying furniture that Ricky would tell her to send back because they couldn’t afford it. When it occurred to me to sell my collection on ebay, I was very surprised that my first pieces did so well at auction. One of the best compliments I ever received was from a gentleman who wrote to me for the measurements of a sofa and coffee table I was featuring on ebay; he wanted to be sure it would fit in his apartment.
Morrison's Furniture Studio and the work of Annie Morrison Millard, has been dedicated to bringing realism to the world of the 1:6 scale doll collector since 1997. Morrison’s background in theatre and film lighting was the inspiration for the creation of sculpture—in the form of furniture, that could be lit and presented as an art form.
from Dr. Seuss: “These things are fun, and fun is good."
[A. Morrison Millard grew up in Massachusetts, in an old New England town with plenty of historic structures.] The house was built in the early 1800’s. There was a civil war sword hidden in the old cellar. Plymouth and Boston were not far away. In the 1970’s we were crazy about “antiques”—anything old fit that bill. Styles were mashed together gleefully from colonial to art deco. That can be charming and it remains popular. I moved to London to work in the Theatre. The house I lived in there was 400 years old, with walk-in fireplaces and built-in ghosts. But, after a few decades steeped in old dark hallways and ancient staircases, the cool solid structures and terrazzo floors of the late 50’s that had seemed so unappealing in my youth became a haven of style. Mid century modern has inspired me since long before it was called by a name. Danish Modern, Eames, Nelson, Heywood Wakefield, Lane—were all names that meant something to me because they represent unfussy comfort and elegance. Some pieces require the “kitsch factor” which is fun to play with, but the essence of the era is designed furnishings—conceived to compliment an open, geometrical architecture; modern beautiful lines that turn furniture to sculpture.
