Once upon a time, when I was but a wee child of 8 or 9, I was obsessed with making dioramas. My Barbies never had any pedestrian, store bought plastic Dream Houses -- no way. Instead, I lovingly dressed them in outfits handsewn from foil and paper towels, and then constructed elaborate houses made of cardboard, which I furnished with notebook paper couches and armories. Nothing but the best for Barbie, right? Well, she seemed to like it. Years later, when I started school for photography I resurrected my love for scotch tape, staples and plain paper, and for a long time I never photographed anything that had not been cut and formed by my own hands. The net result went something like this:
But then I grew up and started photographing real things in the real world, so I could become a real person. And all that reality was perfectly fine until I saw this amazing work by Studio Pepe:
Turns out I may have missed my calling, because these images make me not want to be real anymore. Studio Pepe's work ranges the gamut, from totally staged life sized dioramas, to quirky living spaces styled with a humorous twist.
I love the fantasy lands created by masterminds Arianna Lelli Marni and Chiara di Pinto, because in every image, I see a million possibilities for how to make a crazy diorama out of my own home. And here is where I shower you with eye candy.
Whew, let's take a breather, because is your mind not reeling from the fabulousness, already? Do you not want to paint everything red and purple, and hang a zeppelin in your room? How about that dreamy Cole and Son Malachite wallpaper? Don't you think bare bulbs should hang from every square inch of your home? And somebody stop me from finding and stealing that yellow chair... Nom nom! What's that? You want more? Well, I aim to please:
All the little details are killing me! How do they manage to make everything look finished and collected, but not cluttered or overstuffed???
And seriously, living in a cargo container has never seemed so appealing... Oh, and I desperately need a giant black foot for my house. STAT!
I also love all their fantasy compositions. And then there's this, which totally cements my undying love for Les Pepes:
I would probably be their lackey pro bono if I could just have that bear suit, the green louver shades, and those spectator flats. What more could a girl possibly need?