Meet a Maker – Carma Masson

What have rabbits got to do with Easter? It’s a good question and one that our current window ‘Rainbow Rabbits’ by designer and maker, Carma Masson looks to explain.

Taking inspiration from its German folklore roots, the display explores how the humble bunny hopped their way into our holiday traditions.

Based in Manchester, and qualified architect by trade; Carma devotes much of her free time to designing installations in and around the city. Key to her work is a strong narrative, bold use of colour, and most importantly, a sense of playfulness. With each new project she undertakes she looks to experiment with different materials and processes, ensuring she is always learning and challenging her craft; with her work stretching across a variety of disciplines and scales.

In her latest piece for our Manchester window, Carma experimented with creating 3D geometric rabbits from nine different colours of card from GF Smith’s celebrated Colorplan range. This is the second project she has undertaken with the renowned Hull based paper maker.

Each rabbit was made from over 50 origami shapes created on our in-house laser cutter, then folded and glued to corresponding pieces according to a strict pattern. The shape of each of the pieces was worked out using origami software Pepakura, from a bespoke 3D model created using Autodesk Fusion. Each rabbit taking over 10 hours each to piece together!

These colourful creatures can be viewed in our window until the 6th of April, after which time the rabbits will be relocated to their new home at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, where they will hopefully bring some much needed joy.

Don't forget to tag @fredaldous, @gfsmithpapers and @carmamasson in all your photos with #rainbowrabbits.