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

Critical Question

*How do you have your designs scale for impact?

Design Process

An exploration of paper and taking a line of light for a walk!

I designed my first card "woodland walk" as a test to see whether I could use the laser cutter to its fullest extent. (NB: Subject to change)

Precedence

Over the course of this multiyear project I've started to encorperate references from the Bauhaus (thanks Josef Albers) to other card makers like Emi Hazlett, Richard Sweeney and PORIGAMI. Using a laser cutter allows me to experiement with form, light and shadow while incorperating flare in the form of design and execution.

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

Forest Walk was the card that this project was derived from. Initially I wanted it to be free standing but I realized later on that I needed something to hold the frame together. The fidelity on this card was achieved with masking each layer and slowing the laser speed to ensure clear line cuts.

As an experiement I prescored the paper with the laser cutter...

CanalHuis

Mechanism: Fold

Inspired by Emi Hazlett I designed these houses to be combined together as a line of houses. I designed the cards to be scored and folded by hand, as the scored joints got rid of the paper creases created by engraving.

Quiet as A Mouse

Mechanism: Shadow Box

Learning how to design a free standing shadowbox was a bit of a challenge, but the quickness and nimbleness of mice made it all worth it. 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.

NB: I actually designed rounded card corners for this card design because of a complaint from last year about pricking their hands on the corners!

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.

Ad Astra

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.