Leafs and blackberries and butterflies. Quite different to what I normally do!
Sounds like you have a good grasp of shapes and 3D. Most people wouldn’t be able visualize this.
What’s been your favourite job you’ve worked on?
Yes, its something I do almost without thinking about it. It’s quite difficult to think about it now and try to explain it. I would just make a drawing and just figure it out somehow. I guess it started as I was making those geometric shapes and I got most of the nets for those off the Internet, as I didn't know what I was doing. So they were regular polyhedron, the same shaped triangles joined together. All kind of folding into each other. After that I did a project doing decorations for a hotel room and I did the same geometric 3D shapes. Once you start making them repeatedly you start understanding how they go together and the angles.
Well I’ve got a couple of favourite pieces but they were done for myself, like personal work. It's nice when I get the chance to do my own stuff, things that have been in the back of my mind for months but I haven’t found the time to make them or I’ve started making them and not finished. I get a lot of briefs for things like sandwiches and apples and lots of fruit! I did a pineapple a couple years ago that was really geometric, I liked that pineapple. I’m selling it actually! Are you finding time for personal projects at the moment? I don’t have any big jobs on at the moment so I’ve got my ideas book out. It’s almost a relief to do something for my self sometimes. Usually I get quite rigid briefs! As it’s paper and it’s folding. Do you have background of origami or take inspiration from it? I guess so, well I did some with my mum, and she’s Japanese. I remember doing some when I was little. But it’s pretty different, what I do now uses card, not thin paper. It’s not so much folding as constructing, so it’s not really the same. Is it just a coincidence that you got into paper then? It might be a sub-conscious thing. It is a very Japanese thing so, maybe somewhere in my brain I have subconsciously been led along those paths. I never intentionally thought I’d do something like origami. It just happened. My mum was talking to my grandparents about it and they were like ‘oh its such a Japanese craft, we’re so proud of her’. My mum was like… I don't think she sees it that way. Before you’ve started, how do you go about planning a paper build? The beginning of the plan is knowing the limitations of what paper can do. You can only do quite geometric things. You can make a cylinder, that's the only curve. You can’t make a sausage or a sphere. So I guess you start by figuring out if its even possible. The way I did the pineapple, first of all I knew it was going to be a cylinder but the top and bottom had to taper. Once you have that you can start building up the spiky bits.
So you sort of learnt it as you went? I did things like it at university and it all kind of helped. It’s in there somewhere, a library I can access. It’s just trying to figure out how to make sense of it all and loads of practice. Over and over again. That definitely helps! How have your skills with paper grown and developed? I still have a lot to learn, but I see myself being in a better place than I was a year ago. I am a lot more careful with my measurements. I try not to make as many mistakes as I used to. Quite a lot of it involves maths, getting things down to a precise millimetre, which is a complete headache! Are you going to stick with paper? For the moment it makes sense to. But I would like to do more set design or costumes. What do you have coming up? I had an interesting email from a girl in Tokyo. They do a lot of branded exhibitions; clothing brands will have an artist in residence for a month or so. She is interested in putting my work forward for a Diesel project. Sounds great! And where would you like paper to take you? I’d like to work in other countries. . Send me somewhere to do some cool stuff! lydiakasumi.com @lydiakshirreff