marianne eriksen scott-hansen's paper shelter blooms at the mindcraft project display

Plant Shelter by Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen

For the Mindcraft Project 2023, ten Danish designers and makers unveiled their creations, premiering them with a one-day physical exhibition in Denmark on October 5, 2023. For those who missed it, they can explore Mindcraft’s year-round digital display accessible on their platform. As a media partner, designboom visited the event, where curator Sara Martinsen walked us through the projects, and then, we had the opportunity to sit down with the designers and delve deeper into their works. Following the vivid pink explosion by Sia Hurtigkarl’s installation, another colorful paper installation emerges – the Pollination Plant Shelter System by Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen. This project shows the transformative power of art, turning delicate sheets of colored tissue paper into an organic shelter. The floor-to-ceiling installation flourishes within the space, appearing as an exotic rainforest at first glance but revealing its intricate detail and texture upon closer inspection. This allows the entire piece to breathe and sway with the elements and the touch of passers-by.‘The installation is not static, rather it is still alive and growing. While some parts will eventually wither, new stems will flourish. The organic growth of these paper plants depends on my artistic ‘weather’, alongside the different ways people will interact and cross-pollinate with the installation,’ Marianne shares, emphasizing the ever-evolving nature of her creation.

all images by Anders Sune Berg, unless stated otherwise

a Paper Shelter as a Symbol of Strength

The installation, constructed from thin and lightweight tissue paper, serves as a physical shelter and a symbol of protection in uncertain times. Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen envisions it as a place to escape and find solace, where life and nature embrace the visitor, all made from a material with a unique strength within its fragility. The Pollination Plant Shelter System took shape during a time of global crisis, a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The artist reflects on the importance of her work during this period: ‘I questioned whether I should do something else. However, I also believed that this was what I could do best at that moment. I needed my work to help me during this personal crisis, a sentiment shared by many. So, I decided to take many tiny sheets of tissue paper to build myself a shelter, a physical shelter, that I could enter and hide in. This installation represents only a part of the larger whole; it can transform into a substantial hideaway.’ She continues, ‘My primary motivation was personal well-being, engaging in the repetitive, meditative act of building this shelter, much like a spider constructing its web. These were the thoughts and emotions behind this fragile material being turned into something super strong.’

transforming a seemingly fragile sheet of organic material into a robust installation

Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen’s Artistic Evolution

Marianne Eriksen Scott-Hansen, a paper artist and sculptor, has harnessed her background in fashion and textiles to create an explosion of color, texture, and form in her studio. Her shift from the fashion industry to the world of paper art was driven by her desire to work with all-natural materials and to move away from mass production and synthetic fabrics. ‘The transition from textiles and those kinds of fabrics into paper wasn’t a quick one. The draping, folding, and braiding I used to do in textiles transferred into paper,’ describes the artist. Her chosen medium, tissue paper, allows her to shape and form her creations in a way that reflects both the natural world and her artistic vision. ‘I work one hundred percent intuitively, without templates or measurements or even sketches. I simply gather large amounts of tissue paper, mixing the multiple layers of colored sheets until forms begin to take shape. Through free hand cutting and draping, twisting, turning and braiding, knotting, tying, squeezing, even hammering everything together in an approach that is experimental and organic.’

a continuously evolving organic shelter made of thousands of sheets of colored paper, twisted and bound

Marianna’s close connection to nature, rooted in her upbringing in the countryside, influences her creations,

‘My work includes both flowers and more growth-like pieces, and they combine, pollinating each other. It’s also because I grew up in the countryside, far from Copenhagen, without siblings. I spent a lot of time in nature, collecting beetles, finding flowers, looking them up in books, and creating pressed flowers and such. I collected stones, and, at this point in my life, I wanted to rediscover that playful side, making it an important part of my working life as a designer. I aimed to set myself free and remember what it was like to play, like braiding grass, creating with branches, or stacking stones in a stream.’

She further explains her idea to work with tissue paper, dispelling the notion of delicacy, ‘When people heard I was working with tissue paper, they sort of imagined me to be sitting on a chair, cutting this tissue paper delicately with a pair of scissors, which I rarely use. I mainly fold or use the sheets as they are. And also, I have too much energy to be sitting still. So, I like to struggle a bit with the material. The sculptures become very physical in shape, size, and weight. It’s more about playing with the material rather than just creating handwork.’

to enhance its strength and durability, the artist twisted and squeezed the layers, giving them the resilience of ropes