Caroline Hamilton: The Visionary Who Elevated Doll's Houses to Global Art Form
Caroline Hamilton, who has died aged 86, was a towering figure in the world of miniatures, renowned for co-founding the London Dollshouse Festival. Her pioneering efforts in the mid-1980s helped transform the previously niche interest of "dollshousing" – the art of creating doll's houses and miniature worlds – into a globally recognised art form and leisure activity, captivating audiences far beyond its traditional boundaries.
Establishing a Landmark Festival
In 1985, Caroline established the London Dollshouse Festival at Kensington Town Hall in west London, an annual event that quickly became a cornerstone for enthusiasts. Determined to make it an essential destination, she curated a diverse range of handcrafted works from the world's finest miniaturists, spanning media such as glass-blowing, woodwork, and ceramics. The festival showcased scales from 1:12 down to an astonishing 1:144, offering pieces at prices accessible to everyone from casual hobbyists to serious collectors.
Caroline ran the event until 2005, later rebranding it as the Kensington Dollshouse Fair, and it continues today as the London Dollshouse Showcase. Her meticulous attention to detail set the festival apart, attracting makers producing museum-standard work and fostering a vibrant community of buyers and aficionados.
Author and Advocate for Miniatures
Beyond the festival, Caroline authored Decorative Dolls' Houses in 1990, a groundbreaking book that departed from the step-by-step craft guides common at the time. Her lively, anecdotal, and opinionated writing style ignited interest in doll's houses as an adult pastime, reviving childhood passions for many readers. She shared colourful stories, such as scavenging shattered windscreen fragments with her friend Jane Fiddick to create ice cubes for a 1:12 scale fishmonger's shop, illustrating her hands-on, creative approach.
Collaborative Creativity and Eclectic Style
Caroline's partnership with Jane Fiddick, which began when they were undergraduates at Oxford University and deepened as young mothers in Kew, west London, was central to her work. Together, they attended woodworking classes to hone their skills before embarking on making, furnishing, and electrifying scale models of caravans, shops, and homes. Their eclectic and often irreverent style resulted in affectionate miniaturised renderings of real-life scenes, from a flat above a pharmacy inhabited by a "hard-working showgirl" to the whimsical "Sea View" bungalow with seagulls and a mermaid.
Their collection, chronicled in Our Dollshouses (2015), is now on permanent display at Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, showcasing their ability to span all styles and eras with elegance and humour.
Early Life and Personal Resilience
Born in Budapest on the day Hitler invaded Poland, Caroline was the elder daughter of a German-Swiss mother and an English father who served as an SOE officer during the second world war. Her childhood saw moves to Wales, Belgium, and Argentina during the Perón years, with boarding at Badminton School in Bristol. She studied German and French at St Hugh's College, Oxford, graduating in 1961, and married Patrick Hamilton in 1964.
Despite being told that having children might worsen her hearing loss, which began at university, Caroline and Patrick had three children: Alexander, Dominic, and Stephanie. She later wore hearing aids but never let this hinder her passion. Her resilience shone through as she continued to run the festival after a cancer diagnosis in the late 1980s and Patrick's death from a heart attack at the 1993 event.
Legacy of Support and Innovation
Caroline's pragmatic focus was on fostering enjoyment of the hobby and encouraging emerging talent. She provided support and advice to miniaturists, creating a platform for connection long before social media. Among her early protégés were Kevin Mulvany and Susie Rogers, who crafted a doll's house inspired by her grandparents' home in Versailles and are now renowned for interpreting spectacular buildings in miniature.
She also helped develop careers like that of Laurence St Leger, a former jeweller whose functioning Swiss Army knife won the fair's Perfection in Miniature competition in 2015. Caroline continued to judge the competition even after stepping down from running the show, demonstrating her enduring commitment to the community.
Caroline Hamilton is survived by her children, grandchildren, and sister, leaving behind a legacy that elevated doll's houses from a quiet hobby to a celebrated art form, inspiring generations of makers and collectors worldwide.
