Stafford Allpress creates exquisitely faithful miniature renderings of everyday objects and environments. He describes his making as an act of archiving which is intended to go beyond any ‘cute’ factor and challenge the viewer to look harder. He has a deep appreciation for the ordinary objects which populate our lives and values the ugliness that befalls them as they are used to the point of dereliction. He is also interested in recording and archiving personal, domestic spaces; his surfaces are faithful to the sullied originals and so document the history and activities of previous owners. Allpress’ Layer series represents a series of walls stripped back to their various stages of construction in perfect 1:20 scale.

Allpress was props master for the Auckland Theatre company in the early 2000s, having worked as a prop maker and set designer for various television and theatre projects in Christchurch prior to this. He has exhibited his artworks throughout Aotearoa since 2008 and is currently based in Lyttelton.