Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
The beloved TV series The Simpsons has featured an array of adventures for over 30 years, but it wouldn’t be half as fun if it weren’t for all the characters and businesses that make up the fictional city of Springfield. Honoring its quirky charm, artist and The Simpsons super fan Marc Hagan-Guirey aka Paper Dandy has built a massive model of Springfield, “America’s Worst City.” Comprising 76 handmade individual buildings, the entire project took the artist three years to complete.
The model was a passion project for Hagan-Guirey, who is well known in the realm of kirigami, the Japanese art of folding and cutting paper into three-dimensional forms. Nowadays, he turns to his craft space to unwind from his design job at a large investing platform.
“One evening, I was browsing through Pinterest and went down the rabbit hole of ’Springfield at night’ images,” the artist tells My Modern Met. “I had quite a visceral reaction to those—comforting, nostalgic, reflective, maybe even a little sadness. That was the lightbulb moment and I decided it was exactly where I wanted to immerse myself for what became three years worth of spare time.”
Measuring about 7.8 square feet, the model has no particular scale. Hagan-Guirey simply calls it “fun size.” Since there is no such thing as a canonical map of Springfield, the artist first looked for any buildings that were consistently established to be next to each other in the series, then loosely based the distribution on The Simpsons Game, an official video game from 2007. From there, he just placed everything in a way that felt right.
“When the project was in its infancy I created myself a few principles to help with decision making,” he explains. “Springfield is a little self-contained utopia so the town had to be a ‘working’ town meaning the buildings included needed to cover the breadth of amenities that would allow it to exist by itself—like the grocery store (you only see that fleetingly behind the Pride parade in one episode) or an estate agent. Obviously cult classic locations were prioritized but ultimately I went with what I was excited to make. I’m Irish and I grew up around a lot of superstition and folklore which means I’m Halloween obsessed—so naturally there are quite a few Treehouse of Horror locations included.”
To create this ambitious model, the artist turned to his paper art roots. The buildings are made out of 2 mm MDF, paper, and some tiny 3D-printed elements. As for the colors, he simply eyeballed hues of the cheapest acrylic paint and put it on with a rough paint brush. “It’s actually a really unrefined method but it works,” the artist admits. “It stays true to the source material in terms of block color but made it tangible. I use paper for large surfaces like roof tops or awnings in front of buildings. Going back to some of my first principles it was a case of good enough rather than labor over an exact match. I use 3D printing sparingly, another principle of mine, for small elements like trash cans, fire hydrants, and air-con units. I did actually make the first few air-cons by hand but faced with needing to make over 100 of them… I felt my time could be spent better elsewhere!”
But what has truly made fellow fans fall in love with this model is how packed it is with Easter eggs from the show, including the Hollywood-like letters of “SPRINGFIELD” overlooking the city. “Some of the building have artifacts in the windows,” Hagan-Guirey says. “There’s a tiny killer Krusty dolly in the window of House of Evil. I made a minuscule vending machine with accurate detergent box designs for the launderette—classic moment with Principal Skinner. However, my favorite Easter egg is in the geography. A certain fast food joint is directly opposite Skinner’s home. It’s a super fan IYKYK moment.”
While he has no plans to exhibit the model, Hagan-Guirey has certainly taken note of the stir it has caused in online Simpsons communities. “I would love to exhibit it. I’ve exhibited my kirigami work in the past and have firsthand experience of the costs involved. It’s just not viable without sponsorship, so I’m manifesting an email from a certain entertainment group to appear in my inbox… I’m just hoping it won’t be a cease and desist one!”
To stay up to date with the artist, you can follow Marc Hagan-Guirey on Instagram.
The Simpsons super fan Marc Hagan-Guirey aka Paper Dandy has built a massive model of Springfield.
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
Comprising 76 handmade individual buildings, the entire project took the artist three years of work.
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
Measuring about 7.8 x 7.8 feet, the model has no particular scale; Hagan-Guirey simply calls it “fun size.”
Photo: Sam Older
Since there is no such thing as a canonical map of Springfield, the artist first looked for any buildings that were consistently established to be next to each other in the series.
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
Then, he loosely based the distribution on The Simpsons Game, an official video game from 2007. From there, he just placed everything in a way that felt right.
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
The buildings are made out of 2 mm MDF, paper, and some sparing tiny 3-D printed elements.
Photo: Sam Older
As for the colors, he simply eyeballed hues of the cheapest acrylic paint and put it on with a rough paint brush.
Photo: Sam Older
But what truly has made fans fall in love with this model is how packed it is with easter eggs, from the Hollywood-like letters looking over the city to tiny references in the marquees.
Photo: Sam Older
“However, my favorite easter egg is in the geography,” says the artist. “A certain fast food joint is directly opposite Skinner’s home. It’s a super fan IYKYK moment.”
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
Photo: Simon Sorted/@Sorted.tv
