Meet the Top 10 Paper Artists!

Making fun paper airplanes and little swans is great fun. However, some people dedicate their lives to paper cuttings, creating unbelievable paper designs, statues, cuttings and pictures, limited only by their imagination. There are many different styles of paper art, as you are about to see.

Peter Callesen 

The unique style of Peter Callesen’s work combines an outstanding level of composure and steady hand along with that delicate feminine touch. His excellent ‘paper-cut structures’ are taken to an entirely new level with the details captured perfectly; leaving the original sheet of paper left flat to show the elevated beauty of this design. Not only does Callesen cut the paper leaving the template shape behind, but he uses his obvious gain of architectural knowledge to regularly depict the outline of buildings behind his 3D creation. 

Jen Stark 

Each piece of coloured paper in Jen Stark’s work is hand cut, shaped, re-shaped and formed onto a word backing. The attention to detail in cutting shapes out of each layer to form a wholly consistent pattern is remarkable. Using foam along with the paper, she has mastered a whole new level of paper craft – not just impressive but pretty seductive.

Simon Schubert 

Whereas the other artists in this list use paper to create 3D structures, Schubert prides himself on a more subtle approach. He has perfected the art of ‘folding’ and raising the surface of the paper in such a unique and personal way, that his work could fool the eye making you believe that you are actually looking at a photograph. With fantastic images of simplistic things, Schubert cleverly creates the embossed look with images such as these.  

Brian Dettmer 

Using antique books, Brian Dettmer reconstructs the pages of books in a way that is hard to describe in text, ironically. Beginning from the top, Dettmer meticulously rebuilds each book, by cutting sections away from each layer to eventually form acutely layered shapes and patterns. 

On a deeper level, though, the story and information within each book is restructured, forming a new, non-linear narrative and meaning out of the original information. In Dettmer’s own words ‘The age of information in physical form is waning. As intangible routes thrive with quicker fluidity, material and history are being lost, slipping and eroding into the ether… History is lost as formats change from physical stability to digital distress.’ 

Elsa Mora 

Elsa Mora does to paper what Tim Burton does to film, by making quirkily cutesy characters, props and designs that each seem to be part of the same fantasy world. While it may not be her intention, each of the designs she creates, look as though they all play a vital role in some story. Her work depicts those elegant patterns, the flowing veins in a leaf brought out to show its beauty. If you’ve ever seen the end credits to the film adaptation of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Adventures, then you’ll get a good idea of the visual style presented here. 

Sher Christopher 

Another example of an artist who loves to blend paper with gothic fantasy. What makes Sher Christopher’s work stand out, though, is the Shakespearean style of the characters she creates. Aside from her obvious talent, Sher takes pride in gathering various types of paper from around the world in order to achieve the desired outcome of each character she produces. Graduating from the very small and barely accredited University of Wolverhampton in 3D Design; she is a wonder to emerge.

Yulia Brodskaya  

At first inspection this artwork looks like it was made with watercolours, but tune your eyes a little more and you’ll notice a variety of different colours of paper turned on its side. Originally from Moscow and moving to the UK in 2004, Brodskaya has developed an innovative flare for paper craft, boosting her reputation globally. She designs for many well-known brands, such as Nokia, Starbucks, Cadburys, as well as many national papers and magazines. 

Richard Sweeney 

A master in creative sculptural forms; Sweeney presents a unique style of papercrafting in his work titled Modular Forms in Paper. For those less acquainted with the art world, you could call this origami for the hardcore. Phenomenally complex shapes aside; another intriguing facet that stands out is how the thickness and curved edges of the sculptures gives the illusion that they were made using something more solid. But no; just good old paper and adhesive.

Jolis Paons 

From a distance, you’d be fooled into thinking this was the latest offering from All Saints. Jolis Paons not only creates very stylish clothing out of paper, but ones that contain incredible layering and texture, which is evident in the underskirt. Created completely out of paper by hand out of a phonebook; Paons pleated, stuck, sowed and glued for many hours to create this garment. 

Using only paper, card and an exquisite eye for detail, Bert Simons has created an impressive array of astonishingly life like models of human heads. Not sure whether this says something about the artist’s political stance, but Simons has even crafted the head of People's Party for Freedom and Democracy member, Ivo Opstelten, to parade around in. Fashioning such a life like head with so many diverse dimensions, requires such acute precision, which the cut out below demonstrates.