Paper ‘Cutting Edge’

The ‘Wonder Cabinet’ event last weekend was very cool and showcased some of freshest ventures in the arts and sciences. I came away from it with a new favorite artist in Tara Donovan and a deeper appreciation of the origins and effects of kindergarten as presented by Norman Brosterman. But the main attraction for me was the tag-team talk about the intersections of paper folding and conductive materials.

Matt Shlian and Max Shtein (there’s a vaudeville shtick potential in this pairing) did not disappoint as they discussed new paper engineering concepts in the renewable energy field with their collaboration on flexible solar cell designs. Matt also showed us the work of a few other paper folders who covered the spectrum- from a microscopic stent for closed arteries, to huge emergency shelters and everything in between.

I was lucky enough to have Matt visit my pop-up class this week to present his work in person. (He even came prepared with the actual paper models for everyone to handle after the slideshow!) Since he is the only other known teacher of paper engineering at the university level I was eager to have him at our critique of my student’s second pop-up assignment. It is always great to get a fresh pair of eyes on the work and Matt was able to get the kids very engaged in discussing their pop-ups. It was a real pleasure hosting him.


It was great to finally meet him in person, and I know we can expect some very interesting things from this guy in the future. So keep an eye on Matt Shlian.

- Kyle