Mr. Christmas’ mini worlds are a trip down memory lane

DENVER — Scott Hildebrandt’s art repurposes old clocks, cameras, radios, TVs, and more to build miniature worlds.

“The way people react to my art is different and fun and priceless all at the same time,” Hildebrandt told Rocky Mountain PBS’ “Arts District.” “They see that the pieces light up, and then it’s fun to see their faces light up.”

Hildebrandt earned the nickname “Mr. Christmas” about 10 years ago when he first started experimenting with miniatures. Then, he focused on vintage Christmas scenes. The first piece he made was a little Christmas village that was under glass. Since then, he has produced 3,000 pieces of work, which can be found in homes across Colorado.

Hildebrandt said his love of miniatures probably started when I was close to 6 or 7.

“My grandfather used to put up his old train set from when he was a boy and I just remember being in awe of how beautiful it was and how it ran and all the little miniatures that went with it,” he said. “As I got older, I would build models and I loved the scale of trying to recreate these scenes in miniature format.”

Hildebrandt said miniatures bring people back to a good place in life that you remember when you were younger, a safe place with warm memories.

This report originally appeared on Rocky Mountain PBS’ “Arts District.”