Stunning pixel art installation uses 35,000 tiny paper cubes

By Dom Carter
published

These intricate sculptures are lighting up Selfridges' windows.

Paper pixels installation

This amazing installation is made from 35,000 paper cubes

The digital and the traditional collide in these paper art (opens in new tab) sculptures made up of thousands of paper cubes, created by FLOW Creation's (opens in new tab) lead artist, Sam Robins. By bringing together the tactile touch of paper craft (opens in new tab) and the distinctive look of pixel art (opens in new tab), this window display (opens in new tab) is encouraging shoppers to reflect on sustainability and manufacturing.

Consisting of two hand shaped sculptures and a third abstract piece, these amazing installations were commissioned by Selfridges as part of their Bright New Things sustainability initiative. Created in partnership with The Whitworth (opens in new tab), this project was developed from a concept by Manchester's Modern Designers (opens in new tab).

Working with a range of materials from Cumbria's James Cropper (opens in new tab) paper mill and precision 3D-modelling technology, it took four days to cut, score and assemble the thousands of 40mm cubes.

"The way the hands look in 3D is thanks to painstaking modelling using casts of real hands and computer technologies, but there’s no automatic way for us to make 35,000 tiny, paper cubes or to set them all perfectly in place, so the intricacy of the final installation comes back to doing things by hand," says Robins.

"The almost pixelated effect of using thousands of tiny cubes, as if looking at something through a cool, retro computer game, means that the viewer will need to work a little harder to appreciate just how it’s made," he adds.

The artwork is just one way Selfridges is championing sustainability throughout their stores, and it's certainly making shoppers stop and think. See for yourself how this amazing project came to life in the video above.

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Dom Carter
Dom Carter

Dom Carter is a freelance writer who specialises in art and design. Formerly a staff writer for Creative Bloq, his work has also appeared on Creative Boom and in the pages of ImagineFX, Computer Arts, 3D World, and .net. He has been a D&AD New Blood judge, and has a particular interest in picture books.

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