“Paper Snowflakes”: Exploring Materiality
Cleveland’s first snowfall hasn’t occurred yet, but these recent projects are bringing back holiday memories of long afternoons spent at the kitchen table, mutilating sharp white stacks of printer paper with meticulous scissor cuts.
The process of making paper snowflakes explores the materiality of paper: folding, bending, and cutting flat planes. Perhaps most rewardingly, the final outcomes of this childhood craft are fully revealed when those works in progress are unfolded to reveal intricate designs, then held up to the window to witness the interaction with light.
In these recent installation projects, paper forms are sculpted and manipulated with technical precision. Lighting is deliberate and playful, creating spaces that are simultaneously modern and nostalgic. One can only wonder what these artists’ childhood paper snowflakes looked like – or if they yearned for a pair of purple Fiskars during the construction process.
Above image: A Paper Wedding by Domestic Construction
Above image: Hope Tree by 24º Studio (image courtesy of Inhabitat)
Above image: Empapeladas Espacio Efimero by Kumi Furio and Yolanda Herraiz (image courtesy Yanko Design)
What materials inspire your designs? Leave us a comment below and we will feature them in a sequel to this post!