Cut, print, collage, bind: Liza Borovskaya-Brodskaya’s material explorations expand her playful design practice

A lover of all things print, playing with paper forms is a large part of graphic designer and illustrator Liza Borovskaya-Brodskaya’s practice. With an appreciation for the tactility of printed matter in all its forms, Liza’s portfolio is a collection of all of her material experiments to date. Clever things like cyanotype posters printed with objects that became stamps in sunlight, or a carefully embossed box set that nests a number of objects, all neatly designed to slot in alongside each other.

“I have a deep appreciation for material exploration, the tactility of a printed product,” Liza says. “My interest lies in experimenting with different methods for production in my work: folding, bookbinding and printing techniques.” Paper is also a significant material for Liza’s illustration work, something that “holds a special place” in her drawing practice, where she experiments with the “arrangement of unique shapes”; sharp cut-outs become clean but playful graphic compositions. For the illustrator, these works are in constant conversation. Cut-outs from previous collages “can be found in subsequent works, where they form new compositions that point, even if very discreetly, towards old ones”, she says.

Liza’s tactile practice of printmaking, collage and book arts has been her focus since graduating from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna back in 2014. In parallel with this studio practice, the creative also runs various self-initiated projects, like her fashion label Etc—Etcetera, co-founded by Stefanie Wurnitsch. Here, the pair explore the making of the garments and accessories we carry with us day-to-day and “the stories these objects tell”. Each of their garments are created as one-off pieces, printed in the sun, using the cyanotype process.