Stunning pixel art installation uses 35,000 tiny paper cubes

The digital and the traditional collide in these paper art sculptures made up of thousands of paper cubes, created by FLOW Creation's lead artist, Sam Robins. By bringing together the tactile touch of paper craft and the distinctive look of pixel art, this window display 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, this project was developed from a concept by Manchester's Modern Designers.

Working with a range of materials from Cumbria's James Cropper 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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