Reviving tradition: Swiss paper cutting artist infuses new life into ancient art
The 64-year-old designer is reinventing the Swiss traditional art of paper cutting, which typically shows Alpine landscapes and cows heading to mountain pastures, by infusing a large dose of poetry and modernity. Dubuis, a florist by training, told AFP that she has devoted herself to paper cutting since childhood and now spends around six hours a day on her passion. At her home studio in Chateau d'Oex, in the Pays-d'Enhaut area where the Swiss tradition was born around 200 years ago, she showed off her craft, using scissors or a cutter to carve out intricate scenes inspired by the surrounding woods and the people she meets. The works, either in black and white or in colour, have been shown in Switzerland, France, Germany and Japan.
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Some of them, more than a metre (three feet) high, are on display until September 6 at the new Swiss Paper Cutting Centre in Chateau d'Oex, a picturesque village in the pre-Alps of western Switzerland. «I am very proud of paper cutting, and what it represents of Switzerland. It is a way of representing our values, our roots,» she said. However, «if we keep doing the same things over and over, the tradition dies», said Dubuis, who wants to reinvent the art form in her own way. — Classic Alpine scenes — Paper cutting originated in Asia and spread to Europe around the 17th century.
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Johann-Jakob Hauswirth, a farm worker who died in poverty in the 19th century, is considered the father of the art form in Switzerland. When the opportunity
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