Paper craft by Anna-Wili Highfield

Horse mask for Hermès

If the craft material of choice for winter is woolly yarn, for the sizzling days of summer it must surely be paper. I’ve long admired the cool, modern style of Sydney-based artist Anna-Wili Highfield’s paper sculptures, having seen them in various magazines and window displays over the years. They have the still-life fascination of taxidermy but the abstract details of torn paper, hanging threads and hinted-at forms make them more lively and desirable than any stuffed animal.

Currently working with paper and copper pipe, Highfield’s paper pieces are constructed from archival cotton paper which is painted and sewn together. Her commercial clients include Carla Zampatti,  Bianca Spender, Anthropologie and Hermès, with client commissions from across the globe. One day I would love to purchase one of my own. Perhaps a paper Pegasus, or one of her many fine owl studies.

Boobook

Copper deer sculpture

Robin

Anna-Wili Highfield portrait, Jai Odell