Set Design: Lydia Kasumi Shirreff is queen of paper sculpture

Date
24 October 2013

I spent a solid hour on Sunday afternoon trying to fashion a crane out of a piece of origami paper using nothing but my own fair hands and a YouTube tutorial. It was very difficult, and ultimately I failed, but at least with my newfound experience I can now assure you that the masterpieces Lydia Kasumi manages to conjure out of what must amount to reams of coloured paper is nothing short of miraculous.

From what looks to be every fruit under the sun, to almost illusionary giant iridescent letters, the illustrator and set designer has a mastery over her medium that demands an impressed “ooooooh!” in response. Where some paper sculpture falls prey to the snappy jaws of overly-cutesy-straight-out-of-a-lifestyle-magazine niceness, Lydia skirts that dangerous territory and instead falls headfirst into graphic art inspired coolness, where the line and the angle are king and shiny paper is a thing to be embraced.

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Lydia Kasumi Shirreff: New Romantic

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Lydia Kasumi Shirreff: New Romantic

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Lydia Kasumi Shirreff: R.PATTZ

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Lydia Kasumi Shirreff: FEEL GOOD

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Lydia Kasumi Shirreff: Apple Pine

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Lydia Kasumi Shirreff: Amethyst

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Lydia Kasumi Shirreff: ECOVER

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Lydia Kasumi Shirreff: V for Biscuit

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About the Author

Maisie Skidmore

Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

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