I've been a professional papercut artist since 1990. I am self-taught but come from a family with a tradition of silhouette profile cutting. Although I'm the third generation in the line of silhouette artists, I chose not cut profiles like the others, and instead decided to create my own style.


Why papercutting?
 

Over 30 years ago, or to put it another way, when I had hair, I did voluntary work in the foothills of Nepal as an Assistant Forest Officer. My little rural village was perched on a ridge about 20 miles south of Mt. Everest. At the time I heard that the Nepali Sherpa's were paid the equivalent of 15p a day to carry heavy loads up to Everest Base Camp.

When I returned to England I saw an unframed contemporary print for sale in an Art Gallery window in Newcastle upon Tyne. The price was £140. I was shocked. That's was the equivalent of two and a half years hard labour in Nepal. If that was just the price of a print, how much would the original be? I couldn't even afford the print!
The memory of this moment has always stayed with me because it implied that quite a large section of society wouldn't be able to afford or own an original piece of artwork. They were being priced out.

A few years later I discovered a carrier bag full of my grandfather's and uncle's black silhouette paper. There was no internet at the time for inspiration, and I was trying to think of a way to create a career in art, so I took the paper and began to experiment with it. It quickly occurred to me that if I could keep the cost of my materials and my overheads low, and at the same time learn how to work quickly, I might be able to create originals that almost everyone could afford. In that way they would at least have the opportunity to own a piece of original handmade artwork.

So that was the idea that launched my papercutting career. The intention has always been twofold: to keep the price low but to keep the quality as high as I possibly can.

 

 

How my papercuts are made:

I use a scalpel to hand-cut all of my pictures. They are all made individually, so although I replicate designs, each papercut has small differences that make it unique. The coloured background tint on most of my pictures is a precise mixture of three acrylic inks. The background paper is watercolour paper.
 
My personal view is that I would prefer to choose one tool and try to master it, rather than have a large range of equipment that I'm forever trying to get used to. So, when I began cutting I chose a Swann Morton scalpel with a 10A blade and have continued with that to this day

​

Our shop at Heatherslaw  has my original papercuts and my wife's Spirit of Colour Jewellery range, all of which is made there.

Thank you for your interest in my work.

For more information please contact me.