Vanessa Stone : Nanking Week - more photos and a family triumph!

More photos from the busy London Design Festival- Nanking Week weekend at Potters Park Field just near London Bridge. You can see below some wonderful examples of what children and adults made. The whole weekend was just a free drop in, so throughout the day people stayed to make something small, or stayed for much longer where every family member made something too!

Learning together, making together.

What was so notable about the day was how many families came and made paper cut outs together.They helped each other, shared the feeling of creating something impulsively, and you could really feel the sense of families connecting and doing something unhooked from electricity and the internet. A piece of paper, and some scissors and glue was all we needed, and thats why I love paper cutting so much. Its incredibly humble and accessible for everyone to do at an entry level, and yet it can become the most gloriously complex piece of art you can see when you look at contemporary paper artists.

Adult paper cut - that came out a bit like a wonderful pomegranate!

Red lipstick, pink ears and hearts on cheeks! such a lovely bear!

A bear... in glasses!

Royal cat!

The little girl who made this was five!

Smiley bear....

This set of photos below was a real triumph of the weekend. These were made by a family of two little girls and their parents. The girls aged 3 were not used to using scissors at all. The parents I think had just been scared that they were dangerous and had veered away from them using them. So with some gentle encouragement, the girls and the parents started making together. Its was lovely to see. Using scissors is such a good thing to do. It encourages greater hand eye coordination, develops visual understanding and builds muscle memory too. Its a really useful skill for developing handwriting and confidence too. The whole family seemed to really enjoy making these together and I felt really pleased that I was there to help them.