Paper Punk

What do you do when you’re stressed or anxious? Eat? Exercise? Listen to music? Doodle?

Art therapy offers individuals who struggle with communicating an avenue to express themselves using non-verbal communication. Typically, through painting, drawing, or modeling.

Art therapy can be helpful amongst those who are experiencing a lot of stress or pressure, learning disabilities or difficulties, PTSD, depression, etc. or anyone who is simply looking for a way to explore themselves more deeply.

What are the benefits of art therapy? Besides getting to create cool art and finding a safe place to be yourself, the biggest benefit of art therapy are the insights you get from self-exploration. Art therapists are able of provide insight into your creations and help you understand and/or find meaning in your work.

Art therapy can also be a group effort. Finding people who share the same desire to find ways to relieve stress and discover themselves can be a beautiful thing.

We, at Paper Punk, believe in art therapy or any way to positively and creatively express yourself as an outlet. Crafting is a form of art therapy. It’s a way to relieve stress and have fun. Paper Punk can be a form of art therapy by making your own art using our pieces and creating your own characters. Tell your story using Paper Punk.

The Paper Possibilities blog is all about you and we love to show you some of our favorite highlights from December.

“These are fabulous for on the go creativity, so if you have travel plans this holiday season, these are a great project if you are trying to limit screen time, or keep your kids busy in the car while traveling.” - @NatalMe

“This is the sweetest little paper craft I’ve seen in a while and its perfect for boys! PAPER PUNK My littlest boy is going to be an engineer because he can put my Ikea drawers together in 10 min flat!!! and he made this little puppy from in about a half and hour.  PAPER PUNK is a great quiet time activity and looks darling on his shelf.” - @glitzypear

And last but not least, we love this video/film of our kit by Lucky Penny Shop. 

While this season may have been stressful, we hope that you had a chance to relax, spend some time with the people who matter most and had some fun!

We're not big into new years resolutions, but we did cave and decide to make a couple. This year we will:

1. Spend more time doing the things we love. 
2. Spend more time being creative. 
3. Swim against the current. 

We would love to feature you in our next artist/fan appreciation blog on January 31^st. Don’t be a punk and make sure to tag us in your work. Use #MakeSomething #PaperPunk said so for your chance to be included. 

While the holiday season is in full swing – festive music on the radio, houses lit up on every street, finding it nearly impossible to find a parking spot at the mall, etc. we couldn’t help but find ourselves overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with the task of finding the perfect new ornament for the tree this year with the hopes of hearing awe-inducing ahhhhs from the family.

This year we wanted to do something different and decided to take it up notch by “punking” our Christmas tree, gifts, and space.

Christmas Tree

We took some of the extra pieces we had laying around and created our own ornaments for our tree. You can use a kit that suits the color of your tree or you can light it up with something that attracts the eye. Either way, there is an ornament waiting to be hung.

Gifts

Traditional wrapping paper can be so yawn.  This year, we took some time to punk our gifts by adding the stickers from our classic kits and graffiti sticker sets. Choose the stickers that say (y)our message for an added personal touch “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” – Mother Teresa.

Décor

We’ve all been to houses that have overdone their decorations, but there is no such thing with Paper Punk. We love this table top tree for the center of a dining table, or this Paper Punk wreath to welcome friends into your home. 

We have a lot of fun creating with the classic kits, and even more fun giving them a little holiday twist. It’s no surprise that Paper Punking our decorations is a match made in heaven.

If you’re tired of your typical decorations, punk it! #MakeSomething

Art Basel happened last weekend and it was epic. For those of you who were thinking, “what the punk is Art Basel?”, it’s basically a massive art fair that hosts the world's premier galleries and their artists. For most artists and art fanatics, Art Basel is the pinnacle of year-round art exhibitions. While the Miami event is the star-studded, fan favorite, the event is also hosted in two other cities: Basel, Switzerland and Hong Kong, China.

Besides the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the key art connoisseurs from all around the world, many artists attend to find inspiration and check out some cool artwork.

Here are some of our favorite (geometric shaped) art pieces or installations from this year’s show that give us inspiration:

Acquavella Galleries hailing from New York City, specializing in Impressionist, Modern & Contemporary art.

#KennethNoland's 1964 painting 'Mach II' via@acquavellagalleries | Galleries 2016

lucianabritogaleria originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil specializing in contemporary art. See some of their most interesting work:

Esther Schipper / Johnen Galerie

This gallery showcased the work of Angela Bulloch, who specializes in sculptures and installations based on architecture and industrial design, with her “pixel boxes” feature. Liam Gillick with his Suspended Collapse plexigals on the right and Matti Braun’s Untitled work on the left.

On the far end of the booth, Ryan Gander’s lightbox The Connectivity Suite (2016) explores the nature of creativity and Martin Honert’s illuminated dormitory room is in the middle of the frame.

 These artists and their work are what inspire us to get up, get out and #MakeSomething. If you’re feeling the same and not exactly sure where to begin, unwind with some Paper Punk and get creative. The #PaperPossibilities are endless!

Every month we’ll be featuring some of our favorite posts by YOU! The #PaperPossibilities are endless and we love hearing what you think about the kits and highlighting your creations that inspire us to think out of the box.

“My daughters and I worked together to create the Horn001 aka a toy unicorn as we punched out the shapes and folded them following the directions. While working on the project with them, I really loved how simple the instructions as well as how detailed and special each Paper Punk figure was. From a collection of colors to different shapes and forms, our special unicorn was made in less than an hour that we proudly placed on our mantel.” - @SerenaNorr @weekendjaunts

We also can’t get enough of the paper puns! Here are some of our favorite punny posts from this past month

 And finally, because we’re still experiencing our Thanksgiving food hangover: 

We would love to feature you in our next artist/fan appreciation blog on December 27^th. Don’t be a punk and make sure to tag us in your work. Use #MakeSomething #PaperPunk said so for your chance to be included. 

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.

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 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

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