Sculpted Paper Ornaments - Aparna Gupta

Always happy to hear from emerging artists, I've been looking forward to sharing with you Aparna Gupta's university project ever since she wrote to introduce herself a few months back. It seemed more timely to wait until autumn to post this collection of ornaments even though their uniquely elegant shapes make them suitable for year-round display, not only at Christmas time.

Aparna is a recent graduate of National Institute of Fashion Technology in Bangalore, India. These paper ornaments were her final project, designed during a four-month internship with Inmark Exports in Greater Noida, India.

Final Project

Focusing on shapes that can be used for general occasions rather than Christmas specifically, she set out to create new ones, abstract in their own way, but derived from organic structures. Aparna first created an inspiration board consisting of images from nature that evoke a sense of warmth and happiness.

Curved fold models by Dr. David Huffman provided focus as Aparna set out to create a selection of ornaments from 230gsm metallic paper.

Curved crease folding best reflected the mood board images and gave her a competitive advantage in that it was a new technique for the company. 

Another strong positive was that her designs could be mass produced by machine.

Experimental Process

A time-consuming experimental process decided the final shapes. It consisted of selecting a form from sketches, making a mock-up, and lastly, creating samples.

Each step examined the structure of an ornament from a design point of view, as well as production.

Aparna is currently working with Inmark as a Product Designer, and is always on the lookout for collaborative opportunities in India and abroad. She can be reached via Behance.