Artisan of the week, Katerina of Small Bakery

So it's Sunday and time for a really special artisan. I have never seen anything like the items Katerina of the Small Bakery makes before. The detail astounds and thrills me and each and every one makes me feel utterly ravenous and as I have yet to have breakfast I think I'll pass you over to her now to explain, whilst I have some tea and toast.

1.Could you please introduce us to who you are and what you do?
Hello! My name is Katerina Anagnostou and I am the owner of SmallBakery. In my shop you will find handmade miniature clay cakes and pastries for dollhouses in 1:12 scale! 1:12 means that 1 inch/cm in miniature equals 12 inch/cm in reality. You will also find miniature food jewelry. Every item that I make is extremely detailed and realistic and this is the reason why every piece takes hours of work… Usually, if I want to eat the cake or pastry when it's ready to go into the oven, I know that it's finished.

2. What led you to take up your craft?
I have been using polymer clay for many years, since I was a child. I used to make everything that I could imagine or needed. Two years ago my best friend showed me her dollhouse. Everything was there, everything…except food…I decided to make her a miniature cake as a gift. I liked it so much that I never stopped!

3.Which part of your work do you most enjoy?
I love it when I make the texture of bread or piece of cake. I begin with something that looks like clay and when I finish there is a tiny piece of food in front of me. I also love it when I finally put my items into the oven because I know that many hours of hard and eye-tiring work are finally over.

4.Which part do you find hardest?
For me the hardest part is taking pictures of my pieces. I don’t seem to be very good at it and unfortunately my photos don’t show all the details of my items. I know that the photos of my work are very important and better pictures could bring more fans as well as more sales, so I am really trying to improve in that section.

5.Where do you hope to be in 1 year’s time?
I am always trying to improve my work and my dream would be to become an IGMA Artisan one day. IGMA (International guild of miniature artisans) was founded to promote fine miniatures as an art form, to increase awareness and appreciation of high-quality workmanship through public education and to recognize and honor qualified artisans. It would be such an honor

6.What is the best advice you have ever been given?
Never say never is something that everybody used to tell me…But it didn’t seem to be a good advice until I did almost everything that I had said I wouldn’t do… Suddenly, never say never seemed the most useful and real advise of all.


7.Could you name artisans sites/shops would you recommend are worth a visit?
I love Kim Saulter’s work (http://kimsminiatures.blogspot.com/) and I always read Debbie’s blog (http://debbiestinytreasures.blogspot.com/). You definitely have to visit Betsy Niederer’s shop. Betsy is an IGMA fellow and here work is just perfect (http://betsy-niederer-miniature-food-igma-fellow.com/shop)

8.What is your favourite sandwich filling?
Feta cheese, ham, tomato slices and olives …my grandmother used to make me this sandwich when I was little and visited her at her house at Kithira, a beautiful Greek island. For me it’s the most beautiful island in Greece. Every summer I stayed at her house for about 20 days. It seemed like paradise as I think about it now…Every day we would go to the beach, have swimming courses in the sea and go for long walks into the forest and the island’s castle with my cousins. In the afternoon my grandmother made me this sandwich. I would eat it and then go to play with my cousins…So sweet memories…

Thank you so much for sharing your exquisite craft with us Katerina. I am in awe of your skills. I'm sure all of our readers will be licking their lips after seeing your work and dashing off down to the local bakery in search of cakes and buns. If you are as wowed as me readers you can keep up with Katerina's world on her blog or on Twitter. She also has a Flickr account and you can see lots of her work in a video on you tube.