About

I am a surface designer and have been designing and cutting stencils for almost 30 years - first for printed textiles, then for architectural sandblasted glass and currently for papercuts. I love simple, bold and graphic imagery and am inspired by primitive art, Scandinavian textiles, my Welsh heritage and the beautiful Gower landscape where I live, all mixed up with a love of illustration and design. Although I gained recognition for my distinctive architectural glass, undertaking large scale commissions for public and private spaces and meeting the Queen with my work, it is the hands on, simple and traditional technique of paper cutting which I currently find most gratifying. With just a scalpel, paper and cutting mat I create contemporary and humorous images which are designed to make you smile. My products sell across the world and in addition to winning an award at the prestigious Made by Hand exhibition I have been featured in the press. Everything on this site is designed or made by me and I source my products as locally as I possibly can, and always within the UK. I exhibit widely in galleries in the UK and attend many artist events in person as well as running paper cutting workshops from my studio.

If you would like to commission a bespoke papercut or sandblasted architectural glass, please contact me at caroline@carolinerees.co.uk or tel: 07887767556 / 01792 368248. Studio visits can be made by prior arrangement.

Papercuts

I specialise in creating contemporary and original black and white papercut artwork, painstakingly cut by hand or by laser from the finest paper with the smallest of scalpels. Inspired by the people I meet, the dramatic coastal landscape where I live and scenes from family life, I transform my drawings into linear patterns making pictures which exaggerate the decorative characteristics of my surroundings.

All my papercuts are originally cut by hand to ensure that the composition works before I make a decision about whether or not to have it laser cut in a limited edition. They start out as a rough sketch in my sketchbook which are drawn again to work out the composition before finally being re-drawn onto heavyweight black Italian paper and cut by hand. If I'm happy with how it looks then it's photographed and saved on my computer. I use my mouse to draw around this image, plotting every single line to tell the laser where to cut. This stage is very laborious but important as the quality of the final piece is determined by my accuracy with the mouse! Finally the lasercut is mounted in relief - I like the shadows it creates -  and many of the pieces are hand finished with a collage of colour, making each one slightly different.

What's been said about my papercuts...

Bought as a Christmas gift for my daughter, who already has 2 of Caroline's works. Sure she will love it. Well packed, posted out quickly. Looks gorgeous framed!! Exactly as described and shown on the website. Thanks Caroline, excellent service!!

Really love my Lovebirds. And had some useful information from Caroline about visiting her studio.

A wonderful piece and quick, safe delivery - Thank you!