Home / Art

Japanese Artist’s Delicate Paper Cutting Pays Beautiful Homage to ‘Alice in Wonderland’

By Sara Barnes on June 30, 2017

Decorative paper cutting is an ancient art. In Japan, it’s known as kirie and was first developed shortly after paper was first brought to the country in 610 AD. With arrival of the material, the incredible art of paper cutting has only grown more complex as the centuries go on. Continuing this great tradition is artist Nami Sakashita. With a sharp blade and a steady hand, she reveals long-form prose from a single piece of origami paper. One of her most recent creations is a passage from Lewis Carroll’s classic story, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Sakashita’s cutout is a love letter to the written word. Each character is painstakingly extracted from the black sheet and is flawless in its execution—none of the words are torn or distorted. Rather, they’re all connected with a beautiful lace-like pattern that covers the entire paper in graceful, circular lines. These delicate swooping curves transition into the edges of the piece and transform into flower petals. The result is a fluid composition that guides your eye from one end of Sakashita’s paper cutting art to the other.

With the stunning amount of detail and meticulous process, it’s no surprise that it took Sakashita a week to complete this cut paper piece. If you’re near Tokyo in July, you can see Sakashita’s work in person at the Art Imagine Gallery from July 21 to July 25, 2017.