WESTERN PAPER

 

It was in the old Lessebo paper mill in Sweden that I started to create my own handmade papers in my own artistic way.

It was fantastic to work in

this mill with its smells and its heat, the steam from the vats as well as working with the workers who had done this all their lives.

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Here I developed my own technique. 

I mixed my images printed on tissue papers in the vat with the fibres, and in the creation of papers, the fibres and my images are one.

 

By playing with the transparent parts (my printed images) and the opaque parts, I made installations and interior decoration objects.

 

I also created light sculptures, large geometric shapes in metal. The light then shines through a metal grid covered with transparent papers.

My idea was to work with coloured light and the energy of light.

LIGHT SCULPTURES see below

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JAPANESE PAPER
 
I travelled to Japan in 1987 to learn how to make Japanese papers at the old FUJIMORI paper mill. It was a first-step workshop to learn the technique, then I went back to make my own artistic papers in the mill as a guest artist. It was an unforgettable experience! I had  my own bike, my little house and hardly anyone spoke English! It was fantastic to live in such an authentic little village, surrounded by green mountains. I worked at the mill every day, and in my pocket I had my little dictionary for Japanese.

The technique is very different from the West: the fibers are much longer, so the pulp is caught several times on the sieve.

I prepared my drawings the day before with natural pigments and then integrated them into my paper works.

I also participated in a washi tour; (tour to visit paper mills) with my friend Asao Shimura and in a Paper Art conference in Ibaraki in 1989.