A Bafta-nominated model maker who designed sets for films and TV shows says he will continue creating intricate miniatures of his town \u201cuntil he dies\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mike Perry moved to Folkestone nine years ago to escape the queues of traffic and exhaust fumes building up outside his former home in Leeds, near Maidstone.<\/p>\n
Mike Perry\u2019s work can be seen in his workshop at The Stables in Tontine Street or in Kollectiv<\/p>\n
The 81-year-old spent his entire career in the film and TV industry, working on productions including The Italian Job and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.<\/p>\n
Since retiring at the end of the 20th century, Mr Perry has been determined to keep his brain active by continuing to produce work of his own – including railway models and miniature scenes in jars.<\/p>\n
Now known as The Folkestone Miniaturist, he has built a name for himself in the town through his delicate designs.<\/p>\n
Speaking to KentOnline from his Tontine Street workshop, he said: \u201cI\u2019m going to be doing this until I die – it\u2019s so important after you retire to keep active and doing the things you love.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany of my younger friends used retirement as an excuse to do nothing and some of them have kicked the bucket.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been creating miniature environments with lots of atmosphere, with the most recent creations being in jars.<\/p>\n
Mr Perry has recently started filling jars with miniature tributes to famous authors and artists<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to also use my work to create models of Folkestone as I feel part of the community here – it\u2019s lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The father-of-two has recreated several of the town\u2019s venues in miniature, such as Moo Like A Monkey, Objectables and the Folkestone Museum.<\/p>\n
His fascination with small-scale models stretches back to his television career, where he was tasked with building miniature versions of sets before they were transformed into full-size productions.<\/p>\n
Mr Perry says his artwork allows him to stay connected to the career he loved – something he describes as \u201can absolute joy\u201d.<\/p>\n
His work even earned him a Bafta nomination for the set design of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, after being handed the first-ever \u00a31 million television scenery budget.<\/p>\n
The TV series follows the adventures of a group of British workmen who get placed together on a building site in West Germany.<\/p>\n
The 82-year-old moved to Folkestone in 2017 after moving from Leeds, near Maidstone<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing nominated wasn\u2019t really important to me, I wasn\u2019t after that tag,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat really made me happy was when I looked back on any film or series I was involved in and felt proud.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we got the Bafta anyway because I think they thought we\u2019d filmed it on a real building site instead of making our own.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alongside recreating Folkestone businesses, Mr Perry also fills jars with miniature tributes to famous authors and artists.<\/p>\n
Among the pieces on display in his workshop are creations inspired by Terry Pratchett and Banksy, with each drawing on subtle references from their work.<\/p>\n
Every model takes several weeks to complete and is made almost entirely from upcycled materials, including discarded rubbish, paper, balsa wood, card and foam board.<\/p>\n
Folkestone\u2019s Mike Perry who worked on The Italian Job says he will continue making art \u201cuntil he dies\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Perry\u2019s love of art began in Birmingham, where he was born, after being inspired by his school teacher, Mr Francis.<\/p>\n
Despite opting out of art lessons because of his \u201cterrible drawing skills\u201d, a Tuesday matinee performance of Shakespeare\u2019s The Tempest at Birmingham Rep proved to be a \u201clightbulb moment\u201d.<\/p>\n
He later attended Birmingham Art College, launching a career in design and art despite his father insisting he should get a \u201cproper job\u201d instead.<\/p>\n
Asked what advice he would give to anyone hoping to break into the industry, he said: \u201cJust work hard and be as creative as you can and original as you can, push your boundaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe enthusiastic and have a strong attitude – it goes so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Perry\u2019s work is on display at Kollectiv in Folkestone\u2019s Old High Street.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Bafta-nominated model maker who designed sets for films and TV shows says he will continue creating intricate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,2556,192,191,649,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-704917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-folkestone","tag-human-interest","tag-kent","tag-quirky","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}