Made with Paper

During the mid-sixties, many fresh ideas were emerging in the fashion and home furnishings fields. The use of paper became a popular medium for portable or disposable furniture, clothing, and a vast range of other objects. Seeing all this exciting material motivated the Museum of Contemporary Craft (now called The Museum of Arts and Design) to collaborate with the Container Corporation of America to make one of the largest and most complex exhibits assembled at the museum, aiming to present all the expressive qualities of paper along with its many applications. 

The show featured a wide range of paper applications-from traditional papier-mâché forms and festival elements to contemporary disposables-and many functional products from furniture to clothing. The collection came from all over the world and involved complex logistics to assemble. The museum included huge festival figures from India and collected traditional paper objects from Mexico and other places where paper is used to create objects for traditional ceremonies. 

The Museum of Contemporary Craft collected so much material that we needed more exhibit space and arranged for an extension of the exhibit at the Time Life Center on Sixth Avenue, where some of the larger environments and festival objects were installed.