Notes from a PIMA Judge

Judging of the Perfection in Miniature Awards 2020 is always a tough & emotional experience. Caroline Hamilton tells us more about the judging process.

“This judging job is getting harder every year as the variety and standard of work goes up and up.  One of the most difficult aspects of the job is that one is comparing apples with pears. Festival exhibitors provide everything a collector could possibly need to build and furnish every room of their houses and this year there was even a complete, exquisite walled garden with an unbelievable number of individually made flowers from Petite Fleur.  

How on earth does one decide between THAT and an extraordinary “simple” thing like a gent’s black umbrella?  But what a beautifully satisfying piece of engineering it is. Release the catch and the spokes slide up and unfold into the classic domed, sharp angled props’ shape. Oh so simple! But it must have cost Laurence & Angela St Leger a lot of language until everthing worked instantly, smoothly, again and again. 

Of the many classic furniture pieces submitted, it was desperately hard to pick a favourite but we got there with the beautiful Chippendale Settee by Yosh Sagi.  Every aspect of the piece felt RIGHT; the lovely airy woodwork back, the perfectly stitched seat in such a well proportioned design, with lovely muted colours and even the neat webbing on the underside, you couldn’t ask for more.

We had our “Ultimate Collector” and great Sponsor Ahmed al Thani on Zoom from Qatar and as we were in agony over assigning the First Prize, we asked could we possibly have a shared First? Umbrella AND settee?

So after the smallest of hesitations he said “No, not shared, I think we need TWO FIRST PRIZES” and that, Dear Reader, is what we got!”

CLICK HERE to learn more about the creation of one of the PIMA winners, the Working Gents Umbrella by L & A St Leger.

Judges for 2020 PIMA:
Ahmed Al Thani
Caroline Hamilton
Emma Waddell

More stories on the PIMA entries to follow soon.