Paper fashion
- Liz creates paper garments with the collage technique
- Her items are non-wearable works of art
- She uses waste rolls from a warehouse, as well as recycled and handmade paper
If you compare Liz Valenti’s career to a book, then Sticky Paper Studio is the most recent chapter in a long and exciting story. In the previous chapters, Liz was a student at the Royal College of Art, London, a fashion designer in New York and London, and a lecturer in fashion design in a number of art schools. She even worked with Mary Quant, the inventor of the miniskirt. When she retired, she simply could not stop being creative. So Liz found a new outlet and began working with paper. Since 2010, when she launched her studio, she has been cutting, folding, piercing and glueing paper – in short, she has been using the collage technique to manufacture unique paper garments that cannot be worn, but admired as works of art.
Interview
- What intrigues you about paper?
- I enjoy the trompe l’oeil effects. I love it when people look at my works and cannot believe it is paper! And it is challenging, too, because I do not do any sewing. Whenever I want to add pleats, creases and other details, I have to find a way to create them just by cutting and glueing.
- Which tools and materials do you use?
- Good scissors are key, that is why I bought a very expensive Japanese pair. Then, I use glue and a printmaking brayer to spread it, a surgeon’s knife and tweezers. As for paper, I mostly buy discarded rolls from a warehouse, plus recycled and handmade sheets.
- Is sustainability important to you?
- It is vital. When I worked in fashion, I had to think about customers and prices. Nowadays the only responsibility I feel is towards the environment. I love turning a cheap product into something valuable. I also recycle my own works, cannibalising old pieces and repurposing them!
- What comes first to you: the garment or the decorative pattern?
- It depends. Sometimes I start from a nice piece of clothing, found in a market or on the internet. Sometimes the idea comes from something I see. In Venice, I was so impressed by the floor of St Mark’s cathedral that I decided I would try and turn its hard marble and mosaics into soft paper garments.
Liz Valenti are master artisans: they began their career in 1964 and they started teaching in 1968
Where
Liz Valenti
