Wednesday 26 February 2014

Meet the Maker - Louise Firchau and Paper Panda

It's no surprise that Paper Panda has over 80 000 fans on Facebook and that, as a result, designer Louise Firchau has been able to quit her day job and make her hobby for making typographical lyrical papercuts from recycled paper a full time job.
I'm not going to say too much about her work as it speaks for itself but there are a few at the bottom in Louise's own words for those who want to know more.  
It is no surprise to me that this piece is causing a bidding frenzy on e-bay - it's just adorable.
One lucky competition winner had an original design created just for them and you can see the work that goes into producing one of Louise's pieces.

And because I'm always on the look out for projects you can have a go at yourself, you should know she has a beginner's kit, more details further down the blog too
  
 and you can get a template, just perfect for Mother's Day.
I promised to let Louise explain more about Paper Panda so here she sums it up in her own words:  "PP has three very distinct styles available in a multitude of merchandise.  I hand draw and hand cut The Bird & Bunny and folk series of papercuts that are inspired by Quarwood, where the Panda family live in a little cottage in the Cotswolds surrounded by animals and woodland life.
The Storybook series (and other gothic darkness) is a cute collaboration between Mr & Mrs Panda. I tell Ryan what to draw with a waggy, pointy finger over his shoulder and only when he gets it perfectly right will I cut it out of paper. It's a good bit of teamwork.
The typographical pieces are created using digital software. I studied typography at university and it became an obsession. There is nothing more satisfying than creating a piece of graphic art using amazing fonts and hand cutting it so perfectly that no matter what the size it looks like it's been printed."
As promised too, here's the information about the trainee kit: w
hat's included and reassurance that you will be able to do it!

In each kit there will be:
1 x A4 self heal cutting mat
1 x soft grip blade handle with 5 x blades in a rubber encased blade holder (some may differ slightly)
1 x 'how to Panda stylee' instuction sheet
1 x Practice sheet showing you what to do
1 x Baby Panda Design 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'
1 x Baby Panda Design 'Home Sweet Home'
1 x Small Panda design 'I love you'
1 x Large Panda Design A4 (Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's learning to dance in the rain)
1 x sheet of speciality paper
1 x Panda badge (essential)
I guess today's tenuous link would have to be our own 'learn how to knit' tutorial which you can find on our website by clicking here.   Personally, I'm off to order my own kit from Paper Panda and hopefully surprise my mum with a truly personal gift this year!

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