Chinese Art Paper / Infographic Design
Chinese art paper has a long history that goes back thousands of years, and the process of making it is far more complicated than you might think. I paid a visit to the origin place of one of the most famous handmade Chinese art paper factories, FUYANG, to do some research about the different types and processes. During my study and observations, I recorded the raw materials and their origin places, the steps of making it and time control. After that I found that anything added to the materials during the making process could change the characteristics of the paper, including thickness, color, texture, flexibility, and toughness, to create a new type.
Different raw materials lead to different types of Chinese art paper. I used a total of 100 different types of Chinese art paper to create my final work. Since I had observed that different types of Chinese art paper have different colors, textures, touch and thickness, I wanted to show each of them directly to enlarge the awareness of them. Different from an ordinary infographic, I tend to use things themselves to show their features instead of charts, icons and figures. This is because I want to use the differences of color, texture, touch and thickness to distinguish the different types.
I also considered how to organize the paper together with a special form. Chinese art paper, as its name tells us, is meant to be painted or written on. Thus, a "traditional Chinese painting" is the best form to organize the 100 papers. I chose the traditional Chinese painting style of the Song dynasty to create a framework. In order to showcase the different features of each piece of Chinese art paper, I decided to cut the 100 papers into the shapes of terraced fields to form the element of mountains and clouds. These shapes were cut by hand instead of machines. This is important as all Chinese art papers are handmade.
At last, I added some descriptions of different kinds of Chinese art paper with handwriting and painting directly on the cover of a glass. In this way, readers can see each kind of paper directly with their information beside them. And my conception of changing the Chinese art paper infographic into an installation art reached its final form.
Different raw materials lead to different types of Chinese art paper. I used a total of 100 different types of Chinese art paper to create my final work. Since I had observed that different types of Chinese art paper have different colors, textures, touch and thickness, I wanted to show each of them directly to enlarge the awareness of them. Different from an ordinary infographic, I tend to use things themselves to show their features instead of charts, icons and figures. This is because I want to use the differences of color, texture, touch and thickness to distinguish the different types.
I also considered how to organize the paper together with a special form. Chinese art paper, as its name tells us, is meant to be painted or written on. Thus, a "traditional Chinese painting" is the best form to organize the 100 papers. I chose the traditional Chinese painting style of the Song dynasty to create a framework. In order to showcase the different features of each piece of Chinese art paper, I decided to cut the 100 papers into the shapes of terraced fields to form the element of mountains and clouds. These shapes were cut by hand instead of machines. This is important as all Chinese art papers are handmade.
At last, I added some descriptions of different kinds of Chinese art paper with handwriting and painting directly on the cover of a glass. In this way, readers can see each kind of paper directly with their information beside them. And my conception of changing the Chinese art paper infographic into an installation art reached its final form.
Information Collection & Analysis
Making Process
Final Work
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