How can a few sheets of coloured paper turn into a tempting ‘meal’? When there are some seriously clever creative types doing the making.
A series of stop animation videos depicting the creation of delicious-looking paper meals is being drooled over around the world. The series is called , and was designed and produced by Australian animation studio Yelldesign.
In Papermeal, classic lunches and dinners like spaghetti and meatballs, jaffles, ramen soup and fish and chips are carefully crafted ingredient by ingredient, and then ‘cooked’ using everyday household items.
“We hadn’t ever seen a full meal start to finish made out of paper, with all the ingredients in their raw state,” Yelldesign founder Matt Willis tells SBS.
“We wanted to take the subject back to a really surreal paper environment, and just imagine what different things would work to transition the ingredients into a food item.”
The creative animations use office and stationery objects made of paper – like printers, staplers and and hole punches – to ‘cook’ the food.
Source: Yelldesign
Willis says that each video took around two or three weeks to design, and six hours to shoot.
Since releasing the series a few months ago, Yelldesign have been asked to present at film and food festivals around the world, and have featured on television shows across America and Europe.
Though these are believed to be the first stop animation videos of their kind, making intricate meals out of paper is not a new trend.
Singaporean artist Cheryl Teo has been winning love on Instagram with her paper food series, producing gorgeous creations like this prawn broth.
Teo told SBS that she fell into working with paper at university.
“I feel like paper and I have a strong affinity,” she said. “I have played with it on and off throughout the years but never truly committed to it. It’s only recently that I realised that I always gravitate towards paper whenever I’m stuck in a rut. It’s one medium that has yet to wane my enthusiasm.”
She started a 100-paper-food challenge a few months ago to improve her skills, and hopes to complete 100 pieces by the end of this year.
“I have recently started experimenting with more three-dimensional paper sculptures instead of just flat paper illustrations. It’s a real challenge and I’m enjoying the complexity of it,” she says.
“It’s amazing to see what kind of forms you can create with just a plain piece of paper. My favourite part is achieving details that make it look as realistic as possible.”
Teo and Yelldesign have company: the hashtag #papercraft is experiencing a surge, and #paperfood is having a moment, too.
Here are a few more of our favourites.
