Tiny Food Sculptures Make the Cutest "Small Portions" Ever

Stéphanie Kilgast’s delectable, miniature food sculptures are as realistic as they are health-conscious.

August 7, 2016, 11:50am

Photos courtesy of Stéphanie Kilgast and petitplat.fr

On social media, food photos take up a considerable amount of digital real estate. We want to make sure we capture that memorable meal, that perfect food layout, that delicious home-cooked meal. But for Stéphanie Kilgast, capturing a photo of food—or her miniature renditions of it—is the last step in a complicated and complex process.

Kilgast studied architecture in school and discovered the art of miniatures in 2007. It all happened by accident, but soon Kilgast became more and more interested in creating realistic mini sculptures concentrating on a theme of food.

“While on holiday, I was looking for a new craft or art,” Kilgast told The Creators Project. “While randomly searching the web, I stumbled upon a miniature cake and a few hours later I went to buy some polymer clay. It grew into a passion in about one year.”

Each piece takes anywhere from 15 minutes to several months to complete. On her YouTube page, she documents her process for others to follow along. In one video, she shows viewers how to make a mini waffle iron using fimo, stainless steel wire, acrylic paints, alcohol-based links, and varnish.

The internet already has a fixation with tiny food (see tiny hamsters eating tiny food, happy Sunday), so it makes sense that people would be fixated by the aritst’s videos. The mini waffle maker video has more than 9,000 views and Kilgast has more than 27,000 followers. Kilgast creates a range of pieces, from desserts to veggies—and even kitchen appliances, like mini blenders.

“I used to make pretty food or just food I liked and was interested in only getting better at sculpting,” writes Kilgast. “But in 2015, I started a project called 'daily veggie challenge,' where I decided to sculpt one different fruit or veggie per day to emphasize the need to eat more veggies and less (or no) meat [for] environmental reasons and since then, added to my list of pretty and delicious […] vegan recipes.”

This vegan challenge extended to 233 days of miniature food creations. Kilgast found inspiration for the project when thinking about “the environmental impact of our food choices.” The series includes everything from carrots to corn and strawberries. Kilgast's careful attention to detail captures each texture and detail of the vegetables. She even goes as detailed as to pose her works in the style of high-brow food presentations in mini bowls, small wooden boxes, and on mini cutting boards.

As for the future, the artist is currently exploring different themes of creating everything from “animal/plants hybrids” to “dancing happy bugs.”