If you’ve spent any time on social media lately you’ve seen miniature art of every kind, from portraits the size of a quarter to an Eiffel Tower carved from a pencil tip. In short ( 😉 ), we’re in the middle of a “tiny revolution,” and “The Great Wave” Sample Book from FreeFall Laser, to me, is one of the most impressive miniature miracles to date.
Roughly the size of a business card, this demonstration of FreeFall’s cutting-edge laser abilities feels less like a promotion and more like something you might find in a museum.
Click here or below to watch the video:
Cleverly choosing subject matter with a Japanese flavor and iconography, designer Sarah Pike evokes that land’s ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and paintings. Whereas those 18th and 19th century artists had to carve their designs from blocks of wood, Sarah has laser cut hers from a variety of materials - from paper to leather - and then layered them!
Opening the laser engraved cover (on 100-lb. Mohawk Superfine Cover eggshell white), we discover:
- Sky: Engraved Japanese paper (blue 105 gsm Awagami Shin Inbe) with laser-cut spray
- Mountain: Laser-cut acrylic with engraved snowcap
- Wave (rear): Laser-cut wood with fine line and shallow engraving. (Clearly an homage to the ubiquitous “Great Wave off Kanagawa” by ukiyo-e artist Hokusai.)
- Wave (front): Laser-cut twill fabric with laser engraving (possibly a nod to artist Hiroshige)
- Boat: Laser-cut painted wood with deep engraving
- Octopus: Laser-cut leather with engraved details
- Samurai: Laser cut and engraved screen-printed paper.
“The Great Wave” Sample Book doesn’t merely demonstrate how precisely FreeFall Laser can cut its pieces, it shows that the process of laser engraving can actually reveal unexpected colors and textures.
As impressive as that may be, I still find myself coming back to just how small this book is. Not only is it the perfect “leave behind” in terms of showing what FreeFall can do, its diminutive size makes it feel more valuable somehow, more personal: a private treasure to be carried around and examined during moments of quiet reflection.
VIP Members, you will find your very own copy of this gorgeous laser-cut keepsake in your next quarterly VIP Box, shipping this summer!
Sabine Lenz is the founder of PaperSpecs.com, the first online paper database and community specifically designed for paper specifiers.
Growing up in Germany, Sabine started her design career in Frankfurt, before moving to Australia and then the United States. She has worked on design projects ranging from corporate identities to major road shows and product launches. From start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, her list of clients included Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Deutsche Bank, IBM and KPMG.
Seeing designers struggle worldwide to stay current with new papers and paper trends inspired Sabine to create PaperSpecs, an independent and comprehensive Web-based paper database and weekly e-newsletter. She is also a speaker on paper issues and the paper industry. Some refer to her lovingly as the "paper queen" who combines her passion for this wonderful substrate called paper with a hands-on approach to sharing her knowledge.