Lines for a Walk

INFO

I've always been fascinated with paper mechanisms, broadening my practice I bought a laser cutter after experimenting with one at school. As my process shifts I've done my best to document how we can transform paper into cards that balance aesthetics and wonder.

CONTEXT

Originally just limited to Christmas Cards, this page intends to document my explorations with my laser cutter and the different ways we can explore paper through texture, structure and aesthetics.

PROJECT STATS:

Roles: Art Direction, Visual Design, Machine Calibration
Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Xtool Falcon 3, Lightburn, Blender

Context: Personal Project
Deliverables: Instagram

Selected Cards

These are some of the selected cards (and errata) I've designed over the past 3 years. There is a story for each one, and many many hours trying to ideate a new way to integrate a paper mechanism.

Forest Walk

Mechanism:Fold

Initially I wanted this card to be free standing but, I realized later on that I needed something to hold the frame together. The idea was a snowy walk in the forest surrounded by woodland creatures.

CanalHuis

Mechanism: Fold

Inspired by Emi Hazlett I designed these houses to be combined together as a row of canal houses from Amsterdam. I designed the cards to be scored and folded by hand.

Redesigned these in 2025 to function as both greeting/ christmas and thank-you cards, I created a new stand alone piece that uses more detailing to paint a more vivid picture of the houses I saw in Amsterdam all thoes years ago...

Quiet as A Mouse

Mechanism: Shadow Box

Learning how to design a free standing shadowbox was a bit of a challenge. Paper kerfing was measured with calipers before designing the stands. I used the old bellows style cameras as inspiration for the card sub-units. In the end, I ended up gluing together the pieces for a more cohesive final look.

I created an addedum that took the form of a manual to detail assembly, with the intention that the card was to be shipped in pieces and to be assembled by the recipient. I ended up not needing it, but it was a fun way to communicate intent ( and who doesnt love IKEA?!).

Albers Ornament

Mechanism: Turn

Researching the affordances and architectural properties of paper lead me to the one of the earliest forms of a Bauhaus excersice imposed by Josef Albers in the 1920's.

Using a piece of paper create a dynamic form that shows the affordances of paper.

Inspired by this notion and the 2018 snohetta star design I wanted to create an ornament that looks like a swirling orb in flight. By taking a circle and making concentric cuts I was able to make the paper curve in 3 dimensions. This created an illusion of an orb swirling in midair.

Starlab

Context: Christmas 2025
Mechanism: Turn

Doing research I chanced upon Star-Maps and Astrolabes from the near-east. After a couple weeks of ideation and sketching and some very rough paper prototypes I came up with the idea of a simple star chart that used a simplified grommet mechanism to turn. Viewable from the front the star chart was made in 2 variations (Vancouver and Toronto) to cater to all my friends living in different places.

As many people (myself included) haven't used a star chart in eons, I made an ikea style graphic to help refresh our memories. All you needed to know was which star was Polaris (Which again I definitely knew before hand...).