It was while she was working in the branded environments team of a Sydney, Australia, design studio that Bianca Chang became inspired to create works in paper that had a unique sense of permanence.
Looking to the beautiful simplicity of tone-on-tone signage and the shadow play of three-dimensional letterforms as the lighting changed around them, Chang wanted to recreate this effect with paper.
Paper is a material that Chang has always loved working with as a print designer. While it is beautifully tactile and simple, she thinks that it is often too easily discarded. She believes there is permanence imbued in each of her letters, owing to the time invested in each piece. The letters were made by hand-cutting their outlines on multiple sheets of stacked paper.
Each design uses between 180 and 200 sheets of paper with the fill rotating with each layersto create a sweeping gradient, thus creating a smooth internal form. The paper used in each sculpture is 100% post-consumer, 80gsm recycled paper. This allows Chang to transform a disposable medium into a piece of art with longevity.
Chang plans to gradually start experimenting with designs that use coloured or printed paper and great three-dimensional posters, rather than just single letters.
Here's how she does it:
