When not designing the interior, people often see Mr. Hank Cheng, 51 years old, working in his own studio to create miniature models with many complicated details.
The creations of talented artisans are diverse, from a 40-year-old grocery store in central Taiwan to a tuongational "secret maintenance facility" for a minion soldier ( cartoon character) made from a recycled cake box.
"I like to try to make a model from anything, whether clean, old or dirty, to keep my imagination soaked. When people ask me if I have any things I can't wear, I jokingly said: Only the air and the sunlight," he told AFP.
As a young man, Cheng studied illustrative painting in Japan but only started making miniature models 5 years ago after being attracted by a photo of a Japanese artist that looked too much like real.
One of his most detailed works is the meticulous model of a long-standing Japanese restaurant selling eel dishes - with an smoky kitchen and fatty floors - that won awards at a Japanese competition. Another popular design is a small bar with noisy customers,onon hoa ve ve tuong and a alley behind flooded with garbage, Mr. Cheng even hopes that viewers can "smell the smell" just by looking at it.
I hope each of my works will tell a story to attract everyones attention, not just because it looks beautiful or looks real, said Cheng, who has published a book on small-scale painting and held solo exhibitions.
Sharing the same passion, Hikari Yang, 39, said that at the time of completing her first work - a Japanese-style town - she felt her soul "healed" and forgotten about her troubles.
Yang established FM Dioramas studio in Taoyuan, Taiwan at the end of 2016 with a number of partners and has become increasingly known by holding miniature modeling classes across Taiwan.
Yang's partner, Chen Shih-jen, 45 years old, said that building a miniature model received quite a lot of diverse orders. For example, there was an order from a government agency to renovate a miniature traditional house of Seediq - one of many indigenous tribes in Taiwan; or a request from a couple simply to set up a restaurant model where they first dated.
Mr. Chen also created his own collection with a message about the environment.
"The work depicts how humanity will live when the earth disappears. Climate change and global warming are happening every day and I hope everyone will appreciate it. What we consider normal resources is finite and could disappear one day."
