How Paper Punk Helps Bring Your Family Together

Thanksgiving is just two days away and it’s personally one of our favorite holidays. As many people know, the holiday was founded on the idea that we should take a day to give thanks for the blessing of the harvest and for the preceding year. In our family, we go around the table and each of us mentions a couple things we’re most grateful for. It’s really refreshing to hear about my kids’ feelings of gratitude rather than the usual bemoaning of chores. This year, one of the things I’m most grateful for is my fellow crafters and the creative community.

In case you haven’t noticed by now, I take making things pretty seriously. One of the reasons why crafting is so much fun for me is because of the camaraderie you feel when building something with someone else and the feeling of accomplishment whether you get when you complete a challenge yourself or with others. There’s really nothing like that feeling of triumph.

When we think about it, crafting and thanksgiving have a lot in common…

  • You should take time to celebrate both. Whether it be that wonderful doodle you’ve posted on your fridge of stick people with a variety of rainbows, hearts, and clouds, or warming up with some cider after tackling that pile of leaves in the backyard, take the time to celebrate the little things.
  • Both bring people together. Paper Punk isn’t age specific: young people can do it and older people love it. It can be nice to shut off the television, slow down and create together.
  • Both can be a humbling experience. Getting back to making with our hands reminds us of our creative capacity as human beings.

Every craft is like a piece of thanksgiving. We’ll have some of our favorites out to entertain our family and friends while the turkey is in the oven and we hope you do too. We’re grateful to be a part of this community and it makes us happy knowing we’re a part of your thanksgiving too.

November 23, 2016 by Grace Hawthorne

Accessorize Your Space with Paper Punk

Besides the educational value and downright fun Paper Punk provides when constructing your kit, the end result can be both gratifying and visually stunning.

You may be wondering, ok what now? What else can you do with your Paper Punk after you’ve made your masterpiece aside from basking in the afterglow of neural stimulation? What about turning your smart into art by displaying it in your work or living space?

Accessorizing your space with Paper Punk provides a “pop” for any room, dinner table, or office space. Show off your creation at home or work — the family room, bedroom, and office are great spaces to do just that and here’s why.

Family Room:

The family room is usually home to your TV, bookshelf, family portraits and guests. Accessorizing this room with the things you love like your Paper Punk creations will add to the narrative of the room and provide a little insight on you. Not only does Paper Punk provide great abstract art for the room, it also is an awesome activity for all of your guests to join in on the fun and leave a piece of them with you.

Bedroom:

Minimalist bedrooms make for the best rooms for Paper Punk to provide a splash of color while still keeping decor to a minimum.

Office Space:

For your office space, don’t be afraid to show off your most creative designs. Be prepared for conversations to ensue around your creations because co-workers will definitely ask about them. We still have up our Punkolantern from Halloween and it’s garnered a lot of interest. Many people put their graphic art piece on their desk or in common areas to share their eye-candy creation.

You’ll find accessorizing your space with Paper Punk as easy as it is to make it!

#MakeSomething and accessorize!

What the Punk?

What the punk is Paper Punk?

Ultimately, Paper Punk is the love-child - the “Best of both worlds” between origami and Lego. Using the urban definition of “punk” which means “trick”, Paper Punk literally means to play a trick on paper. While paper is ever-present in our everyday lives, with Paper Punk this commonplace material is reimagined and transformed into a tool for creativity and education. A sheet of paper literally becomes a paper building block for your imagination with a few simple folds.

It all started in a creativity course I teach at Stanford’s d.school where four years ago students were assigned a simple dimensional thinking exercise. It took us about 1.5 years to prototype the patented interface and another year to get to market in a meaningful way.

 

The most distinguishing aspect of Paper Punk is the super smart fold-to-build play pattern and eye-candy outcome. While other contemporary construction paper-based craft kits create a sense of volume through slotting flat pieces into each other, nothing fully encloses space into modular building blocks like Paper Punk does.

One of the most rewarding aspects since starting Paper Punk has been knowing that I am helping people. Through my research project, I know empirically that building a Paper Punk can help to rewire your brain and increase your creative capacity, and that especially makes me very happy. 

I am Grace Hawthorne. Mother, artist, author, educator and creator of Paper Punk. #MakeSomething

November 08, 2016 by Grace Hawthorne

Punk-O-Ween

Happy Punk-o-ween from your friends at Paper Punk!

For those of us who will be doing more treating than tricking, we have something sweet for you - a behind the scenes look at the creation of our Paper Punk “Punk-o-ween” video.

Using stop-motion, we wanted to tell the story of Punk-o-ween that features our Pup dressed up as a lion and Bot dressed up as Dracula.

We used construction paper to make Dracula’s cape and we used the included stickers to change the face of Bot, making him extra spooky.

For Pup, we used orange, red, and yellow construction paper to make his mane and tail, transforming him into a ferocious lion.

The beauty of Paper Punk is that YOU can create whatever you want. It’s totally left up to your own imagination to create and accessorize your characters. The #PaperPossibilities are endless!

Here’s a look at some other Paper Punk Halloween creations:

Happy Punk-o-ween! #MakeSomething

Materials used to make scene:

  • Bot kit
  • Pup kit
  • Leftover Kitty kit pieces
  • Cardboard
  • Bristol board (2) black and blue
  • Scrapbooking paper
  • Sticky dots
  • Scotch tape
  • Glue stick
  • Scissors
  • Candle
  • X-Acto knife

 

October 31, 2016 by Grace Hawthorne