Recipe for success
Finding fame in miniature with artisan, Carol Cook.
15 minutes of fame
Famous for her appearance on BBC early evening favourite, The One Show, alongside celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, artisan Carol Cook’s miniature polymer clay food has reached a vast audience easily engaged by her true to life artwork. “Initially I was contacted to create food in relation to Jamie’s book, which one of the team had made a jest about the minute as an increment of time becoming minute as in measurement. So, their idea was for me to create 15 ‘minute’ meals as in tiny, to accompany his book 15 Minute Meals.” Carol recalls the timescale involved being almost as small as the miniatures themselves, having under three weeks to bring Jamie’s recipes to life in small scale. “They sent me a copy of the book straight away and I chose 15 of the meals that looked ‘do-able’ in the time allotted, plus platters and boards that I had that could be almost matched to the meals chosen.
The week before I think it was, they then asked if I would appear on the show! I was so busy trying to get everything perfect with the miniature meals and get them there on time for the show, I didn’t really have time to think about it, so said yes, I’d appear. It was a fantastic experience and well worth the nail biting mini race to the finish.”
The One Show hasn’t proved to be Carol’s only brush with prime-time television stardom. She also created finely crafted miniature pastries for the BBC drama The Miniaturist. Carol was approached to work on the project by Kevin Mulvany and Susie Rogers, the acclaimed miniaturists assigned with putting together the collection of incredible miniatures required for the programme, based on the novel by author, Jessie Burton. But, if Carol had thought her previous timescale for recreating Jamie Oliver’s 15 Minute Meals in miniature was a challenge, then this project was about to provide her with an even bigger one. “Originally, I created historically accurate food of the era. However, the BBC decided to bring a food stylist on board to create the ‘real’ food that would be used in life-size for the drama. They also decided they wanted this food to be replicated in miniature.” explains Carol.
This left her just ten days to start the project entirely