What Would a Museum of Supernatural History look like?
We know very well the creative possibilities for bookbinding with paper and leather. French artists Zim & Zou have elevated these materials to a whole new art form.
"Using leather, paper, and a lot of imagination, the pair created a window installation for Hermès Maison Shanghai. The concept was inspired by a Museum of Natural History, melted with a Cabinet of Curiosities. The windows, hand-made with paper and leather, are an invitation to wander. Passers-by were suddenly walking through the corridors of a mysterious Museum, straight from the street. The themes were inspired by nature, the two main windows were about Air and Water, and the two smaller ones about Earth. All the animals were carefully handcrafted using leather offcuts from Hermès workshops in Paris. In the water themed window, a 5 meters dinosaur paper skull is swimming through the room (plesiosaurus skull). The whole project required almost 3 months of work, and the support of a great local team."
(via Zim & Zou)
"Zim&Zou are two french artists, based in Nancy. The duo is composed of Lucie Thomas, born in the Vosges in 1987, and Thibault Zimmerman, born in Paris in 1986. They studied graphic design (design, publishing, advertising) during three years. They decided to focus on installations using handcrafted objects made out of tangible materials such as paper, wood, thread, etc... rolling away from computer design. Anchored in craftsmanship, they create all the elements composing their installations by hand, from drawing to cutting and assembling. Their favorite material is the paper they’re cutting, folding and gluing to give rise to intricate and colorful sculptures. Paper inspires them for its versatility, infinite range of colors and unique textures. The flat sheets turned into volume are giving an installation the poetry of ephemeral material. Zim & Zou’s strength is to be a complementary and polyvalent duo."
<meta charset="utf-8" />(via Zim & Zou)
See more of Zim & Zou's work here: http://www.zimandzou.fr/