Entrepreneur

Caroline Collinge & Edmond Salter, Cabinet of Curiosity Studio

Academic Partner

Catherine Howell, The V&A

Project Title

Paper Architecture: flat sheet to folded form.

Project Description

For their residency with the V&A’s Museum of Childhood Caroline Collinge and Edmond Salter, of Cabinet of Curiosity Studio, began with research. Part of the museum’s collection consists of the Robert Freidus Architectural Model Collection, a unique archive of over 140,000 paper models. Collinge and Salter’s aim was to investigate the educational value of architectural paper models, in particular, how they might be used to engage young people and families in creative design. In addition they sought to uncover paper craft techniques that could be incorporated into the Cabinet of Curiosity Studio’s existing skill set.

Via access to Robert Freidus’s collection and the archive of the Cut It Fold It Make It exhibition Collinge and Salter were about to uncover 19th century paper craft skills and explore how models can communicate narratives to the public. A by product of the research was the digitisation of a considerable portion of the Robert Freidus collection. Furthermore, through their research the studio was able to assimilate a complex set of skills required for 19th century Pellerin model making.

During the Museum of Childhood’s Small Stories: At Home in a Doll’s House exhibition the Cabinet of Curiosity Studio ran a special pop-up workshop. Between Friday the 3rd and Friday the 10th of April 2015 Paper House invited members of the public to participate in making activities, turning everyday materials into an extraordinary paper house installation that grew over the event’s duration. Paper House ran daily between 10:30 – 12:15 and aimed to engage 6 – 12 year olds.

Andrea Cunningham, Head of Learning at the Museum of Childhood, said of the event that it “created a wonderful opportunity for families to engage directly with practising artists and explore materials” and that it “deliberately foregrounded non-digital activity” resulting in “a very unique and beautiful paper structure”.

Picture credit: Cabinet of Curiosity Studio