Since my wife and I are joined at the hip, this bio will be for both of us.
We met at summer camp as kids and remained fast friends even after dating and marriage.
In 1974, expecting our first child, Robin stumbled into the world of miniatures. She was already doing crafts and craft shows with her Father. Even as a young girl she made stuffed animals or painted lawn animals and her parents sold them where they worked. Her father, a weekend craftsman, came to her with some play dollhouse furniture he had made and asked her to paint them for the
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grandchildren. They came out so cute that we brought some to our next craft fair. They sold faster than anything she had offered before.
She then found out that there were shows JUST FOR MINIATURES. So now with two baby girls, Taryn and Rachel, we started doing a few of these miniature shows and her work was very well received.
Robin started trying other mediums and came upon bread dough. FIMO and Sculpy were not available then. She started making food and vegetables, then turned to holiday items like wreaths, apple cone trees and colonial style decorations. Everything intrigued her and she was eager to try her hand at everything that could be miniaturized.
In 1979 I left my job in Maine and we moved to Hampton N.H. to open a miniature shop called “The Tiny Touch”, which we operated together for 13 years. (As gifted as Robin may be in the arts - she will be the first to admit she needs me to actually run the business.) During this time, Robin and I made everything from doll houses to sewing baskets, holiday items to castle supplies. We worked in all scales and made many, one of a kind, houses and room boxes.
We held many classes in the shop and in our home and even a few at locations around New England. Through this shop we met many friends.
We have been fortunate to have had several articles, and two covers, about our miniatures in what was called Nutshell News, a magazine for miniature enthusiasts. The first article written by the now renowned doll and bear artist, Carol-Lynn Waugh, was in the early 80’s.
Although we already sold our miniatures to a few shops, we decided to start selling more of our items wholesale. We joined CIMTA in 1990 and by 1993 decided to close our retail store and just sell wholesale to the trade and do a few retail shows.
We moved to Bangor in 1994, after our youngest daughter graduated High School. We moved to Bangor because we have family here and wanted to get back to our roots. Our home is in an old neighborhood and was previously my Aunts home. As with any older home we have our work cut out for us.
In 1993 Robin started designing for Concord Miniatures and her first collection “Harvest Home Kitchen” was introduced in 1994. Since then three more collections have been released, “Noah’s Ark Bedroom”, “Petalstone Bathroom”, and “Liberty Bay Living room.
It’s funny how one opportunity leads to another. An importer in the gift market hired Robin to design some products for her. A line of Folk Art Rag Dolls, magnets and wall hangings under the name of “folk tales” were introduced. While at the Atlanta Gift Mart, promoting the “folk tales” line, we connected with a publisher that was interested in Robin’s designs in full scale prints.. We are now branching out into other licensing opportunities.
While pursuing this “other stuff”, we now offer several collections of kits. All with Robin's colorful artwork. We sell to dealers and collectors all over the world.
This has been a fun wild ride, but the best is this, we have been blessed with each other, two wonderful grown-up daughters, two beautiful grandchildren, two big stupid dogs and two crazy cats. Who ever said life was boring?
Later.
Shawn and Robin
