A Guide to the Best of Southern California : HANDMADE : Sitting Pretty

Think small. Artists Susan Ryan and Susan Seaberry, along with creative partner Nancy Taylor, do just that with their line of whimsical, doll-sized chairs ($90 to $130) that rival any full-scale, functional counterpart.

Susan Ryan makes her tiny sculptures from papier-mache, recycled wood, cardboard and raffia. The rough-hewn results tickle the imagination, from the “lawn chair,” with its “bark” frame, “grass” seat and matching birdbath table, to the gilded “wing chair.”

Susan Seaberry, whose people-sized furnishings go for $1,000 and up, takes a more decorative approach, lavishing her Lilliputian, slipcovered pieces with vibrant paintings that draw from Matisse, Picasso and Nature: a field of sunflowers, the sea, a garden.

Works of art they may be, but don’t take Seaberry’s miniatures too seriously. “The tiny chairs are only what you want them to be--a little surprise on a mantel, a table, or a whole collection mounted on a wall,” she says.

Seaberry’s and Ryan’s designs are available through Seaberry-Taylor-Ryan, 680 Randall Road, Santa Barbara; (805) 969-6460. Seaberry’s chairs are also available at Tops, 23410 Civic Center Way, Malibu; (213) 456-6002.