Learning the art of paper craft, in all its colourful glory

An engaging paper craft workshop was recently conducted by Mr. N Rajeshwar Singh, Lecturer at the Apeejay Institute of Design. The expert created a model of a scarlet macaw, a kind of parrot species found in humid evergreen forests of the Neotropics, using different coloured papers. 

During the hour-long online session, he demonstrated the process of making this paper model in detail. Using red, yellow and  blue colour chart papers, Mr Singh created the feathers and wings of the bird. He further explained the technique on how to give a 3D effect to the model. He said, “The designs can be accentuated by adding a background or ambience to it.”

Says Cheshta Shukla, who is studying in Fashion Design Department at AID, “We already know that wastage of paper may leave a huge impact on our environment. So why not use the leftover sheets and paper cutouts to create something decorative and useful? We learned that paper craft is a collection of crafts using paper which can be folded, bent , pasted , layered, and so on. Paper craft not just involves origami which we have been taught since childhood but it has kirigami, quilling, paper cutting, stencil making, paper mache and many more. And these are important as part of our learnings in a design course. We had a great experience at the workshop and are looking forward to more such workshops.”

Added, Harsh Kushwaha, another Graphic Design student, “I learnt many new techniques about papercraft that I can use these for designing logos, advertisements, packaging, gifting, etc.”