Footy Tips
Stocks: Curious Metallics
Oh the joy when a piece of paper art crosses our path. This gorgeous and colourful creation was sent out by Le Cordon Bleu Australia as part of a Valentine’s Day email. If you’re not familiar, Le Cordon Bleu offers training in cuisine, pastry, management and gastronomy. The email sent out on 14 Feb, titled: ‘Cooking for love, for the love of cooking’, offered a dessert recipe – chocolate flavoured puff pastry crisps with fromage blanc and orange cream, cherry and banyuls wine sauce. Need we say more?
Darren Taljaard from Le Cordon Bleu wanted to create something handmade, novel and unique ie nothing kitsch, overly used and definitely no stock images! He used the Curious Metallic range (Violette, Red Lacquer and White Gold) in 120gsm to create this little beauty. As he mentioned to us: “The rich colours and luxurious metallic effect worked perfectly to convey the feelings of the heart! They evoke wealth and suggest that the message is a valued gift. The deep purple of the Violette created a lush backdrop for the very rich and intense Red Lacquer. The White Gold, because of the golden metallic component, stood out beautifully on the white background and complemented the two intensely coloured papers used in the rest of the heart.” And in case you didn’t notice, the thin strips are conceptually linked to the blue ribbon in the company’s logo.
Darren was happy with the Curious Metallics range, he mentioned: “The paper is of a high quality and it’s smooth so was easy to work with. It has a certain ‘memory’ when curled and so was easy to ‘draw’ with.” And for any budding paper art enthusiasts out there, it’s best to use a lighter GSM in order to bend and curl the strands smoothly. Darren says that in the end, each strip needed to look like a fusion of calligraphy and paper.
The heart received loads of positive feedback. It seems that hand made, traditional illustration techniques are still very much appreciated. It could be the recognition of the effort that goes into designing something hand made, the delicate nature of the process, the precision, using real materials – all of it strikes a chord with people in a very postmodern age.
Working with paper has been highly satisfying for Darren. It has opened a new direction in paper illustration for him and he’s certain to follow up with more increasingly elaborate designs. We’ve had a chat in the office and the only thing that could make this heart better is if it was edible. Preferably something chocolatey like the recipe. Yes, it’s unanimous, that would make our day!
