Papercraft: Design and Art With Paper [Hardcover]

R. Klanten (Author, Editor), S. Ehmann (Editor), B. Meyer (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2009

An unparalleled collection of groundbreaking creations crafted from paper as a material for innovative
art and design.
Paper is arguably the most important material of our civilisation and has continued
to serve as a medium for documenting information and ideas. Today, paper is
enjoying something of a renaissance among young artists and designers worldwide
as an experimental material for design. There is also an insatiable concurrent
trend for designing three-dimensional handcrafted objects as documented
in the books Tangible, Tactile and Hidden Track.
Papercraft is an extensive and timely survey of innovative art and design work
crafted from paper. It explores the astounding possibilities of paper craft in all
shapes and sizes some are playful, whimsical and quick to produce while others
are far more intricate and created in painstaking detail. From the most basic
techniques including cutting, folding, gluing and collage to the use of cuttingedge
technology like embossing and laser cutting, paper and cardboard-crafted
works are reaching new artistic heights.
The book gathers the most extraordinary creations from small objects and figures
to large-scale art installations and urban interventions as well as three-dimensional
graphic sculptures from a vast spectrum of artistic disciplines ranging from
character design, urban art, fine art, graphic design, illustration, fashion, animation
and film. Adding even more value, this illustrated book also includes a DVD
with printable templates for creating your own paper characters and toys as well
as a curated selection of the best stop-motion animations.
This book provides a comprehensive insight into the enormous creative potential
of this multifaceted material and reveals how paper is firing up the imaginations
of today s designers and artists.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Die Gestalten Verlag; Har/DVD edition (September 9, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3899552512
• ISBN-13: 978-3899552515
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319,609 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sheer Paper Madness, January 19, 2010

By 

A. Borloz (Metropolitan Area - NJ/NY/CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Papercraft: Design and Art With Paper (Hardcover)

When I first saw the cover, I immediately placed it on order before it was released. I incorrectly assumed that it would be a how-to book on paper art & crafts. After I got the book, I quickly skimmed through the book, and much to my great delight, it was not a how-to book, but a well-curated "exhibition" on the art and craft of paper as executed by the designers and artists. I later discovered that the cover photo is a paper illustration of all the ingredients for its creator's chili recipe.

As I went past the title page, I expected to find a table of contents, but it was not included - instead, a preface appeared. As I was reading it, I was relieved to find that it was not an "academic treatise", but an entertaining, insightful, and beautifully written introduction (authored by Robert Klanten) to paper as a physical and tangible medium for use in fine arts, fashion, illustration, animation, objects and graphic design.

Due to the lack of the table of contents, I had to skim through the whole book to count the number of chapters. I have found that it was grouped into five "chapters" which looked more like categories. Each "chapter" starts with the text written by Sonja Commentz, and her writings were just as creative as many of the paper works shown in the book.

The book itself is truly mind-boggling especially when all of the works are either done in two-dimensional or three-dimensional with nothing but paper. One could say that it's sheer paper madness - murals, display, poster, collage, typography, objects, characters, toys, shoes, costume, trains, villages, repurposed/altered books, life-sized dioramas, installation sites and many more.

From examining the colorful and good sized photographs, I saw that many different paper craft techniques were employed in various projects: folding, kirigami, cutouts, silhouettes, sculpting, scoring, and embossing, to name a few. The coffee table size of the book allows many of the photographs to be large enough for me to be able to look at some of the works in detail so that the paper techniques can be figured out.

At the end of the book is an index where the first letters of the company names and even the artists'/designers' names are sorted. The strange thing is that there is a table of contents included - not for the book itself but for the CD which is attached to the inside back cover. The included CD contains both the videos (DVD) and the templates (ROM) for 18 "urban paper" artists' models. The video portion contains interviews, animation and demonstration. One of my favorite paper animation videos, This is Where We Live, done by Apt & Asylum Films is included and I was absolutely delighted to have it in my possession.

In summary, this book is the most inspiring book on paper creativity I have ever come across. I wish that it would be given a better title to do it much greater justice. Anyway, I love and am grateful for the fact that I have many of the great paper work in one bound physical copy instead of an electronic list of various paper artists'/designers' websites. I highly recommended this book for anyone who loves the look and feel of paper anywhere and everywhere.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars smorgasbord of paper art and crafts, September 5, 2011

By 

liberal sprinkles - See all my reviews

This review is from: Papercraft: Design and Art With Paper (Hardcover)

this is adapted from a longer review at my blog liberal sprinkles


Paper comes to life in so many ways in this book. Art installations, portraits, animation characters, 3D posters, cutouts of figures, people, animals and objects big and small, Papercraft: Design and Art with Paper is full of fun examples of what can be crafted with paper.

There are numerous works I recognize, including some from Jen Stark and Ferris Staverman, whom I've blogged about. There are also pieces from other artists whose works I've seen on the Internet or pinned at Pinterest, so in some ways, this book was very familiar to me.

But there's a huge lot of other works that I was introduced to. A wide variety of works in multiple structures and formats are presented. Some are functional, others purely decorative; some are playful, others thought-provoking. Nothing is boring or common. The works exude creativity - there's lots to grab your attention and give you ideas of how much can be created from a flat material.

My only complaint is there's very minimal information - if any at all - on the works and the artists. But there's still plenty of eye candy to enjoy.

4.5 stars

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WOW!, September 6, 2010

By 

tam2tam - See all my reviews

This review is from: Papercraft: Design and Art With Paper (Hardcover)

My teenage daughter brought this home from the library. We quickly saw that it was a MUST HAVE. Even our 16 year old son loves it and he has always disdained art, crafts and anything of that nature! It is a beautiful book, very inspiring, and completely beyond words to describe.