Getting experimental with paper

Cutting Edge

What’s in a paper? Its plainness is unattractive and boring but Arun Desai thinks otherwise. One cut, two folds and maybe another cut and what you get is a piece of art. This is what Arun has been doing with every piece of paper he comes across.

He popularises paper craft among children and helps them understand the process that goes into making art with paper. He shapes, twists and turns paper to form something new. Arun quit a cushy job in the pharmacy sector as a regional sales manager and took to paper craft.

His experiment with paper began when Arun was barely 12 years old. He would make use of all the paper he would gather from a printing press nearer home. Arun would turn scrap into something innovative. Arun says, “Whenever I have some free time I would spend it in making various objects like hens, birds, insects, animals... from the scrap and would preserve them.”

It’s not the same form every time and Arun has the ability to give a 3D effect to paper. He uses the art to expose children to the practical side of what they study in classrooms.

He conducts math laboratory for children and through paper craft teaches them the logic behind the pythagoras theorem, platonic solids and archemedian solids. Arun says, “I can craft something as big as a ship and as small as a cockroach. I first make a mental plan and then chalk out what I want from the paper. When I teach these things to children, they work on it with great interest.”

Arun also makes paper toys like tumbling toy, blow top, flexible polygon and also action models. “Folding, cutting and pasting are the three rules which are an integral part of the craft,” he wraps up.  For details, contact Arun on  9845851800.