Cardboard Creations

Cardboard Creations

Cardboard is an incredibly versatile material. With an understanding of cardboard engineering, it can be shaped in all manner of designs. It has sufficient strength to hold its form and is surprisingly durable for such a lightweight material.

Whilst cardboard is best known as a packaging material, it is being increasingly used to create sculptural forms. Being low cost and widely available, it is ideal for creating large scale commissions for exhibitions and community projects.

We have selected a few examples of artists who use cardboard to express ideas and develop impressive exhibition displays.

Cardboard Communities by Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan

One couple is making good use of cardboard as a medium for sharing important global messages centred on the subject of migration. Isabel and Alfredo Aquilizan fill gallery spaces with sculptural works created from cardboard. These typically take the form of tightly packed urban spaces and ships stacked high with towering dwellings.

The husband and wife team often involve groups of people in the build process. As cardboard is an ordinary, material, people are willing to have a go and try out ideas. If they are unhappy with their contribution, it can easily be reused on another section or recycled. People approach cardboard in a far more open way than they would with a traditional art medium.

Their cardboard creations have been exhibited in Australia, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Architectural Cardboard Islands by Nina Lindgren

Carefully cut cardboard panels form the stacks of geometric buildings in works of art by Nina Lindgren. Some of the work is built up on pedestals, suggesting precariously balanced cities. Another, Floating City, hangs like a fully inhabited planet in the sky.

The Swedish artist cuts tiny windows into the cardboard buildings and carefully positions lighting inside. The effect is that these sculptures have the feel of inhabited cities.

Cardboard Contraptions by Daniel Agdag

Evoking the most imaginative times of invention, Daniel Agdag has created cardboard flying machines that look ready for explorative flight. The most detailed cogs and gears, cranes and propellers connect parts that are intricate and truly wonderful.

The work of this Australian artist has been exhibited all around the globe, including Hong Kong, Canada this year. The pieces will be making their way to Messums Wiltshire this month and Messums London in July.

Cardboard Fluting by Giles Miller

Giles Miller has developed a technique called ‘Fluting’. In simple terms, this involves cutting corrugated cardboard at different angles to create pictorial tones that can be used to create imagery. The effect is similar to cutting lines into a pristine lawn and the cardboard designs have been used as a sustainable retail backdrop for leading designers including Stella McCartney.

Giles Miller has also embraced the properties of corrugated cardboard in protective laptop case design and acoustic wall and ceiling sculptures.

Get Creative with Cardboard

These artists are a small selection of creators who have decided to embrace the properties of cardboard. Aylesbury Box Company hopes these works of art will inspire you to consider that cardboard packaging can be far more than a plain, beige box.

With a thought to design and print, your cardboard packaging could inspire, excite and engage buyers. If you would like our assistance with bringing your concepts to life, contact our team on 01296 436888.