Graphic paper art by Maud Vantours

HICAVELINCA for Arjowiggins, photo: Jonathan Icher

Maud Vantours is a French designer and artist, living and working in Paris. She graduated from the school Duperré, and then followed a Design training with a specialisation in textile and material research.
Her work is focused on colors, materials and patterns. Her style is made of original multicolored graphics and dreamlike landscapes. Maud Vantours works with luxury brands as well as mass market brands ; her works has been shown both in France and internationally as well as in several professional fairs like Maison&Objet.
Today Maud has just joined our free iPhone and iPad application dedicated to paper art and called Paper Art Trends. She kindly answered a few questions for that occasion:

Hi Maud, who are you ?
Maud Vantours, 27 years old, designer and artist.

How did you come to work with paper ?
I started to work this material during my art studies.
Paper is my favorite material, I love it because it is fragile and malleable as well, its thickness is almost imperceptible, but accumulated it becomes dense and tough. I superimposed it, then cut layer after the layer until it gain volume and have quite a third dimension. I like the idea of using a basic material that become a noble after working and sculpting.

How would you describe your work, your personal style ?
It is about accumulation and superimposition of layers… This was inspired during a journey to Cuba: the colorful walls of the old houses are damaged by the wet weather, so the people cover it with new layers of paint with different colors and so on.
Since that time I did experiments, worked different techniques that were developped in a more personal style, colorful, detailed and dense.

What qualifiers do you use when talking about paper ?
Smoothness, flexibility, malleability, brittleness, an endless choice of colors and textures.

What do you like most in what you do ?
Creation, the beginning of a project it has something exciting mixed with a small dose of apprehension. Not even knowing where we are heading, feel, try to innovate, create a new story, a new aesthetic, then find the idea to be developed and finally produced it. In fact it’s the creative process that I love.

In your imagination, is paper hot or cold?
I think the paper is a hot material, because of its plant fibers.