Publications
From a Lego batman sculpture to a pair of Nike sneakers and a statue of a baby Yoda – there’s nothing Monami Ohno cannot create from cardboard.
The 29-year-old from Tokyo started using cardboard as a medium for her creations 10 years ago, initially to design a bike for a college assignment.
“When I first tried folding the paper, gluing and putting them together, the people around me praised me, saying things like 'Wow, you can make this',” she explains.
“That made me so happy that I have continued doing this.”
Using popular culture as her inspiration, she starts off her creations by drawing a rough sketch on the cardboard.
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Unlike other artists who use paper to create blueprints, Monami uses the sketches drawn on the cardboard as a scale of measurement which she then cuts out and moulds into the sculptures.
Using glue and sometimes sprinkles of water to assemble her pieces, she delicately transforms cardboard into incredible 3D works of art that include even the tiniest of details.
Over the years she’s received worldwide recognition for her unique and innovative works.
Monami’s creations are featured in several galleries in Japan and overseas. She also sells her work to private collectors, with sculptures selling from anything between $909 (R13 000) and $13 640 (R195 000).
Although her work is eco-friendly, Monami says there’s no embedded environmental statement behind her pieces.
What ultimately guides her is her own personal taste: if she likes it, then hopefully someone else will too.
“I make the things I would really like to decorate my house with,” she says.
Sources: Mashable, New York Post, CNA, Reuters
