Workshop: Sarah Matthews

When I’m asked what my job is, I say “Paper Engineer”. To me, this simply means a designer who transforms paper from 2D to 3D, by creating sculptures or pop-up mechanisms. Having said that, I would also describe myself as a papercut designer, as a significant amount of my work is also two dimensional, layered papercuts.

I design these papercuts on Illustrator, and send them to my plotter to cut (a machine similar to a laser cutter, but with a blade rather than a laser), before finishing the detailed cutting by hand with a scalpel as unfortunately my machine isn’t perfect and I always need to ‘tidy up’ the detail by hand.

PAPER TIPEE [Originals], Using IMPRESSION ORIGINALE wraps.

I was born in Sheffield but lived in London for the majority of my adult life so far, before moving to Nottingham last year. When I lived in London I was working full time in the product development department of a jewellery company, and doing my own work on the side. I had always wanted to try and do my own work full time but completely lacked the self-belief to take the plunge and go for it. When I lost my job due to my employer’s financial issues, I decided to take it as the push I needed to try and turn my ‘side-hustle’ into a full time job. As London is a really expensive place to live, I decided to move to Nottingham, where my mum lives, to save some money while I was taking the first steps to build up my business, which is why I’m here at the moment.

To be honest, I am so busy with work at the moment, and earlier this year I managed to buy my first home, which is in Sheffield, and all of my spare time is being spent working on the new house as I am renovating it before I move in, which is so exciting, but the downside is that I haven’t been able to get out and make the most of what’s going on in Nottingham while I’m here.

I can’t wait to move to Sheffield – hopefully it will be very soon now! I love Sheffield, it is where I was born, and is so vibrant, with loads of lovely independent shops, cafes and restaurants, and so much gorgeous green space.

PAPER SCULPTURES “Rooster” and the “Lobster hat” [Originals]

I like to listen to music while I work, particularly anything I can sing along to, and which makes me want to dance… My musical (not so) guilty pleasure is late nineties/early noughties hip hop and R&B. Sometimes it can get a little lonely being self-employed, so if the loneliness is getting to me I like to have films/TV on in the background so I am listening to people talk… I think in a strange way this makes me feel less like I am on my own.

I like to have a scented candle or diffuser out to make my working space feel calm, but nothing too strong as they can give me a headache! My favourites are fresh, herbal scents and I find Anthropologie is great place to find them.

Sadly I don’t have a little companion of my own yet, but I always had pets growing up and can’t wait to get a dog in the future. I’m obsessed with maltipoos and chow chows and am a total sucker for fluff. I follow so many dogs on instagram!

I studied Textile Surface Design at Buckinghamshire New University, but decided during my degree that I didn’t really enjoy the fabric ‘end result’ of my projects as much as I enjoyed the ‘paper-based’ sketchbook and paper maquette stage of my projects. Fortunately we were quite free to do what we wanted, so I ended up making a collection of printed and folded paper jewellery for my final collection. After graduating, I continued to experiment with paper as a hobby, but it has since turned into my full time job!

“I love paper: it is the most readily available, affordable and versatile material, with limitless possibilities.”

Full of colour and happiness, and the perfect balance of nature and design.

First, I designed the shapes on Illustrator, before sending them to my plotter to cut out. I cut the teepee shape out of both wrapping paper and normal paper, so I could back the wrapping paper with the normal paper to add strength. I then glued the wrapping paper to the normal paper, and scored where I would need to fold.

I then folded along all of the score lines. I then added some gold paper behind the door. I trimmed down the bamboo sticks to size and threaded them through the cuts in the paper, then lifted up each side of the tent to check they met perfectly at the top.

I then tied some beads and feathers to the top of the front face, and finally tied the four bamboo sticks together at the top.

That is such a hard question! Visually, I love angular, geometric shapes, but I think if my personality was a shape it would be much softer, but still symmetrical, so perhaps a circle… I would describe myself as soft, patient, compassionate and a bit of a perfectionist, so I think ‘soft but symmetrical’ sums me up pretty well.

“I have already picked out my future dog’s name – ‘Crayon’! People seem to either think it’s the cutest name or the most ridiculous name!”