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Giant 3D hand sculptures made entirely from 35,000 handmade paper cubes

If you get chance to walk past Selfridges in Manchester this month, then you'll be lucky enough to see an impressive window display of two giant hand sculptures, made entirely from 35,000 paper cubes – all painstakingly crafted by Flow Creation in Blackpool.

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Selfridges window display with two giant hands made from 35,000 handmade paper cubes, yellow neon text reading "Making Brighter", and yellow geometric shapes against blue wall.

The creative studio, founded by designer and artist Sam Robins, was commissioned by Selfridges to create the large-scale installation for its Manchester Exchange Square store as part of its Bright New Things sustainability initiative.

Working to a brief developed by Modern Designers, Sam was asked to produce something unique and original in partnership with The Whitworth art gallery and James Cropper – the 170 year old British paper manufacturer, known for its immoveable commitment to sustainable production.

Speaking of the project, Sam said: "We wanted to focus on the human touch, the idea of returning to artisan skills and making things that last. From this we came up with the concept of the human hand, crafted entirely from thousands of tiny handmade paper cubes, using high quality James Cropper paper.

"Using a combination of traditional modelling techniques and 3D scanning technology, we crafted two larger than life hands entirely from 4cm paper cubes. The hands, standing at around 2m tall, emerge from layers of grey and black cubes in their thousands. In total, around 35,000 cubes were used, with each element of the space telling a story about sustainability, the creative process and the art of paper-making.

"A simple colour scheme of blues, greys and accents of vibrant oranges and yellows really brought the space to life while giant versions of the cubes on the central plinth reinforced the materials used and highlighted the amount of work that had gone into each piece. The result; a beautiful and bold celebration of the many hands of northern industry, past present and future."

To find out more, visit www.flowcreation.com or watch the beautiful video below where you can enjoy seeing the process behind the project.

Three-dimensional architectural structure made from thousands of stacked white paper cubes arranged to form a hand-like shape in an industrial studio space
Close-up detail of thousands of white paper cubes assembled to create textured surface of Flow Creation's giant hand sculptures
Overhead view of a work table with yellow and orange paper cubes arranged in wavy patterns to form text or design elements during the hand sculpture construction process
Colourful paper cubes in yellow, orange and navy blue stacked in geometric formations inside a Selfridges window, with the storefront and Manchester street visible through the glass behind
White and grey paper cubes arranged in a three-dimensional pattern, with some cubes appearing to cascade or dissolve from an orderly grid formation
Stacked white handmade paper cubes cascading downwards in Flow Creation's giant hand sculpture for Selfridges Manchester, with yellow tiling visible on the left side
Artist adjusts yellow paper cubes on a large blue wall installation featuring a giant hand sculpture made from 35,000 handmade paper cubes
Selfridges Manchester window display featuring two giant hand sculptures made from 35,000 handmade paper cubes, with gold lettering and geometric stacked shapes in the foreground
Child kneeling before a giant sculptural hand made from thousands of white and grey paper cubes in a Selfridges window display
Two giant hand sculptures made from thousands of stacked paper cubes in white and golden yellow tones, displayed against a blurred cityscape background
Two giant pixelated hand sculptures made from thousands of cream and golden-yellow paper cubes displayed in a Selfridges window with a cityscape visible behind the glass
Giant hand sculpture made from 35,000 yellow, orange, white and grey paper cubes in Selfridges Manchester window display, with coloured cube tower installation in foreground
A single golden-yellow paper cube against a soft blue background with vertical light streaks
Giant hand sculpture made from thousands of white paper cubes with a yellow arrow pointing upward, displayed in a Selfridges window
Giant paper cube hand sculpture at Selfridges Manchester window display, with coloured blocks in foreground and shoppers visible inside the store
Stacked paper cubes in shades of yellow, grey and white arranged in an abstract composition
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