Inspiration: a new series about the seeds of creativity

As I watched my nearly-four-year old daughter paint her version of a world map recently (after having been engrossed in the atlas most of the week), I started thinking about how the seeds of creative thinking, and artistic expression are planted. How inspiration for future, artisanal work begins. Where. Who. How.

So I did what I usually do, and ask some of the artisans whose work I love, and am privileged to share with on the Artisans Gallery team.

(handmade wooden star wands, above, from ImaginationKids)

Today, I start off this new series with Linda, from PaperPhine.

"One my favourite things to delay bedtime as a kid was to get out one of the numerous craft books and start a project that would obviously not be finished by the time the grown-ups considered to be bedtime. Luckily, there were a lot of craft books and a seemingly endless supply of materials in my parents' house thanks to my Mum who was always working on something and still is nowadays. So these books were definitely a shaping influence early on and the older I got the more sophisticated the books got."

"When I was about 14 years old I bought the book Paper: Making, Decorating, Designing by Beata Thackeray and I was hooked. Setting up a paper making workshop in my parents' basement, kitchen supplies and gadgets started to disappear suddenly and sometimes turned up again covered with paper pulp and glue.

Anyway, I was hooked on paper, my library on the subject grew constantly and I did internships with European papermakers and paper artists. When I went to Art University I was quite disappointed that the staff teaching paper making had not really any in-depth knowledge on paper making and therefore I concentrated on the new fields that were to discover: diverse textile techniques and skills. When paper yarns appeared in my life thanks to a dear friend somehow everything fitted together nicely and became even more exciting.

Even nowadays books are extremly important for my work as inspiration and guides to new techniques and ideas. The library is forever growing and one day I'll probably need a whole room just to store my books in. Exhibitions and talks with fellow artisans and artists are probably equally important for my work but it's books that are a recurrent theme through my life and work."

 (all photos, above, from PaperPhine's lovely shop)