Of Papercuts

I've never been any good at arts and crafts, which may be why (as I think I've mentioned somewhere before) my regard for people who are, borders on near-reverence at times. And it's not really all that often that I get to see someone combining the two, so when I do, it's a cause for a little celebration of sorts.

I'm sure a fair few people on the fashion blogosphere are aware of Rob Ryan's work, but my first sight of it was in a Vogue feature on insomnia, some three years ago. Even if the subject hadn't happened to appeal to me as an ex-insomniac, the illustration- which was composed of one of his papercuts, bearing the text 'To Sleep, Perchance To Dream' certainly did. It'd have been pretty as a painting, which was what I initially thought it was- but learning that it was a papercut just brought my respect to new levels- anyone who's ever wielded scissors trying to cut shapes out of origami paper, will know what I'm talking about. This might sound fangirlish, but it's both the precision and the pure, whimsical creativity that I find wonderful. The fact that text often features prominently is a bonus, because it's cleverly incorporated into the image itself (and it does mean that his work- which includes handprinted tiles, screenprints from his papercuts, and work for Paul Smith and Bloomsbury publishers- has shades of both filigree-like intricacy and comic book-style fun, which is not a bad combination at all).
I was really happy to find Rob's blog last month, which has plenty of eye candy of the best sort for anyone who wants a gander at more of his work (much as I would like to, I can't put all the images up here), also his official website, which is fantastically designed and lots of fun to go through (I have a weakness for the book covers). And his shop on Etsy is lovely, anyone who wants to buy the screen prints or tiles should definitely pay it a visit.
Images from rob-ryan.blogspot.com, used with the artist's permission.