55 www.printmonthly.co.uk July / August 2024 - Issue 349 FOCUS ON: NATHAN WARD, PAPER ARTIST Ifirst became aware of paper artist Nathan Ward’s work by accident whilst roaming the aisles of the VM & Display Show in London this April. Walking past the Antalis stand, two colourful parrots caught my eye. I was even more intrigued when I realised they had been created using paper. After stopping for a chat about the papers used, we were directed across the hall to “the giant whale made from paper” and there we found Ward exhibiting his work. From robins and dachshunds to the large-scale whale and its calf taking up the stand space, I couldn’t help but be in awe of the intricacy of Ward’s work, as well as the creativity. A full-time professional paper artist, Ward operates from his paper design studio in Kingston, southwest London, and has been working with paper since around the age of 16. “I began working with paper as it is such an accessible material,” he explains, adding: “Paper is familiar to all of us and I love that something so simple, often overlooked or taken for granted, can be transformed in such amazing ways!” In a digital age where much of our time is spent on screens, Ward says it’s nice to feel something real. “Even photographed, I think a real sense of tactility can be conveyed through paper textures like those in G.F. Smith’s Colorplan,” he says. Ward studied BA Illustration Animation at Kingston School of Art and throughout his schooling, he says paper is something he kept coming back to time and time again. “University tutors encouraged me to think big and challenge the perceived limitations of the material. Often, I would manipulate their illustrative briefs to resolve them with papercraft outcomes. “I fell in love with photographic illustration and explored ideas around set design, developing ideas further through movement or animation. My drawn ideas quickly outgrew their pages and became sculptures.” Now represented worldwide by Début Art, Ward has built sets, props, and models for the likes of Google, Jo Malone, Links of London, and Tom Rosenthal and clients he has worked for include English National Opera, John Lewis & Partners, and more. Ward has also been received a number of industry awards including being a 2023 VM & Display Awards Finalist, winning the 2022 Graphis Design Poster Silver Award, and being the 2021 London Festival of Architecture Showroom Showcase Winner. A Long-standing Relationship One brand Ward has worked closely with throughout his career so far has been 135-year-old paper merchant G.F Smith. The company’s education manager Vanessa Fletcher paid a visit to Kingston School of Art to give a talk on the possibilities of paper and the pair sparked a conversation about running a project together. Working with two graphic design students, Ward and Fletcher collaborated to concept the first student-led exhibition in what was the G.F show space, an underground gallery called the White Space FROM SHEETS TO SHOWPIECES From models of Ant and Dec for Santander X Mastercard to a confetti canon in midpop consisting of 35,200 individual pieces of paper, we look at the intricate, creative, and award-winning work of paper artist Nathan Ward and the print requirements involved ▲ Nathan Ward created models of Ant and Dec for a project with Santander x Mastercard
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjM0NDIxOA==