Cristina Noriega was born in 1956 in Cangas de Onís (Asturias), a beautiful small village in the north of Spain, famous for its Roman bridge.
Several members of her family were connected with the medical profession for generations so, following this tradition, she became a nurse and worked in the field of nephrology for 30 years.
She has always been very keen on crafty works such as cross-stitch, needlework and decoration, but what she most liked was working on wood so she began to build small ships. Fortunately, one day she came across a kit for making a miniature piece of furniture, which turned to be a fantastic finding, that’s how she started building her first dollhouse.
At that time the “Museo de Artes Decorativas” in Madrid organized a miniature exhibition and competition. Winning the first prize with an Empire style shoe-shop represented a step forward in her career.
The next piece was an early 20th century hospital for an exhibition in Asturias in which she tried to reproduce memories of her childhood such as medical apparatuses that she had seen in her grandfather’s clinic. Caroline Hamilton, organizer of the prestigious London Dollshouse Festival and present at this exhibition, invited Cristina to take part in that event, which allowed her to enter the professional miniature world. In this first show several of her pieces were acquired by the Puppenhaus Museum of Basel (Switzerland), which encouraged her to devote herself completely to miniatures. In 2001 Cristina received the “artisan” status by the International Guild of Miniature Artisans. She also organized intensive courses about furniture construction in Spain. It’s twenty years now since Cristina left her job as a nurse. Nowadays her pieces can be seen in several museums all over the world.
Cristina makes replicas of furniture from all times and styles basing on a thoroughly documented study of every piece by using traditional cabinetmaking techniques (carving, turning, marquetry, parquetry…).
Owing to her great interest in the medical profession and her taste for mechanical devices, she also makes old apparatus replicas (gymnastics, hairdresser’s, astronomy, cameras…) as well as medical equipment (ophtalmometer, obstretician convertible chair, Morrison dental chair, x-ray machine..). Besides, she reproduces all kinds of scenes and atmospheres related to occupations, fantasy, cinema… Nowadays, she is very interested in the reproduction of architectonic elements.
Cristina usually participates in annual miniature shows in Europe (Madrid, Rheda -Germany-) and USA (Chicago and San Jose).
Since beginning of 2022, her daughter Irene R. Noriega started learning Christina’s techniques and working with her. Irene is recognized for her meticulously and neat performed work.
Irene has always shared with her mother a taste for crafts and, especially, for miniatures, making small collaborations with Cristina. But it was not until the beginning of 2022 that he decided to dedicate herself entirely to the world of miniatures, leaving aside his career as an economist.