I'm Hannah, the creator behind House of Small Things.

I have a background in education, disability support and arts facilitation. In late 2022, I moved to Wānaka and found myself living in my late granny's cottage. It was here that I discovered her collection of house and gardening magazines.

Without thinking too much about it, I started turning pages. I grabbed a pair of scissors and began cutting out images - not always understanding why a particular photograph, colour or phrase caught my attention. The kitchen table slowly filled with scraps of paper.

Sometimes an image felt like a portal to another world. Sometimes putting unlikely things together made me laugh. I discovered that by layering found images, words and textures, stories began to emerge. They shifted and changed unexpectedly. Fragments of text became poetry. What began as cutting and pasting became something much deeper: an exercise in paying attention, following curiosity, finding motifs and trusting the process without knowing where it would lead.

Collage brought me back to myself and into connection with the world.

House of Small Things began as a way to share that experience with others. I wanted to create spaces where people could step away from expectations, follow their curiosity and give themselves permission to play. Spaces where creativity becomes less about getting something right and more about discovering what might emerge.

Collage begins with what already exists. House of Small Things is grateful to the artists, photographers, writers and designers whose work continues to spark curiosity, imagination and new ways of seeing.