Paper means different thi­ngs to different people. For some it is a living, breathing thing that has a life of its own. Meet Jeff Nishinaka, the world’s premier paper sculptor, a man who turns ordinary paper into stunning art.

As a kid, during summer vacations, after breakfast he would get on his bicycle, meet up with a few other kids from his neighbourhood and ride all around the city. He would catch butterflies and hunt for lizards till it was time for dinner. But now, he wouldn’t allow his kids do that. The world’s best paper sculptor, Jeff Nishinaka, is worried. “Our parents never had worries about our safety, because it was very safe back then. I would never let my kids do that in today’s LA,” he says in an email interview to Roar!

On the brighter side, Los Angeles has worked out well for this soft-spoken affable man, who has redefined the meaning of paper. The stunning elegance of his paper art has people sitting up and taking notice. “The meticulous sculptural 3D work appears to have been created from marble or fine sand or vanilla ice cream or thick foam — definitely of something other than ‘just’ paper,” says thecoolhunter.net, a website specialising in making observations on and predictions of changes in cultural trends.

The 50-year-old artist works mainly with white, which makes the exquisite play of light and shadow a large part of the appeal of his work. “I would spend hours in my dad’s garage workshop,” Nishinaka says. “He had a drill press, a belt sander, an engraving machine and tons of tools. I could easily spend a whole day making something out of scraps of metal and wood. Like my dad, I loved working with my hands. I’d never get lonely or tired because I would get so wrapped up in whatever it was that I was making that time would just fly.”

He graduated from the Art Center College Of Design, California, in 1982 with a BFA in Illustration. Today his work pops up everywhere — and in the most unexpected places. He has done medical illustrations of the structure of the eye, commissioned private portraits, even a life-size garden for a hotel. He has a prolific career working in advertising, fashion and fine arts, and also creating some larger installations. “I’ve had gallery exhibitions in California, Austria, Japan and Shanghai, China,” Nishinaka says.

His commercial work includes commissions for fashion catalogues for Bloomingdales and Galeries La­fayette, advertising work for Visa, Coca-Cola, Playboy, American Airlines, Toyota and Mattel. “My work on an average sells for $2,500 to $25,000, depending on size and usage. Installations can cost more, depending on the complexity and amount of material I need,” he says.

Hollywood actor Jackie Chan is among his most famous customers. And if anyone in India wants to buy his work, Nishinaka says, it’s possible too. “If people are interested, they can contact me via email. We would begin by discussing what they are looking for. I would then sketch several ideas for their approval. Once a sketch has been approved, I would require a deposit and begin work. There’s a little more going back and forth with the client than that, but generally, it’s that simple,” he says.

Nishinaka works out of his studio, which is in the front room of his home. He plans to remodel the garage and turn it into an art studio. “The garage is large and I need the extra work space,” he says.

Nature and manmade things inspire the artist in him. “I’m inspired by the unusual and the common. I find inspiration in everyday things and things that happen by chance. I really do look for inspiration everywhere,” he adds.

A project can take three weeks to three months. It just depends on what’s involved. Some of his favourite works are The Writer, Tiger Mask, and the ANA Hotel Tokyo Apple Tree because each one presented a different challenge to the way he approached a project.

“The Writer was the first sculpture that had a more animated look to it. For the Tiger Mask sculpture, I played more with gestures in the stripes and a symmetrical design rather than trying to create a realistic animal. The ANA Hotel Tokyo Apple Tree was a challenge in scale. The Tree measured about 20 ft in height and 15 ft in width. Working on a paper sculpture of that scale presented a number of unknown challenges that had to be addressed in order to make it work,” he says.

About durability Nishinaka says that a framed sculpture will last forever, as long as it’s not kept in real humid conditions. “The paper I use is archival and acid free and framed in a plexiglas shadowbox to protect it from dirt and curious lookers,” he says.

Interestingly, Nishinaka collects Astro Boy toys and Marvel comic books as a hobby. He also enjoys making model airplanes and travelling.

Ask him about India and this is what he has to say: “I haven’t visited India yet, but it is definitely on my must see list! My perception of India is that it is very mysterious, exotic and fascinating. I also love Indian food!”

Nishinaka points out that a typical day in his life is very boring. “My day begins with checking email and catching up on the news. After breakfast, I start working. I try to go to the gym twice a week, unless I have a big deadline coming up,” he says and laughs.

His friends say that he is an unusual person in a good way. “I think I’m pretty easy going and enjoy being around other people as much as I enjoy being alone doing my own thing.”

He goes on to add that his aim in life is to create art that makes people smile and wonder about. “Something they’ve never seen before,” he says.

For more information on Jeff Nishinaka and his work visit:

http://www.jeffnishinaka.com/