Uzbek Style paper projects
As an artist I got deeply inspired by Uzbek cultural heritage, the fine arts and architecture I see around me every day of my life in Tashkent and traveling around Uzbekistan, and this project came out naturally , it is to highlight the contemporary Uzbek artists and craftsmen who work on a basis of immense Uzbek traditional art heritage but have the unique artist view to move forward. These series of collaborations also give me the chance to get deeply involved in local culture to react on it with my paper art ,step by step to find the new visual ways and stories. Stay tuned.
The Touch of Time
"The Touch of Time" is a collaboration with Uzbek jeweler Ramziddin Azizov (@ramz_jewel). The paper set design was made to represent his majolica jewelry collection inspired by ancient majolica art from the walls of madrasah Kukeldash in Bukhara and madrasah Sardor in Samarkand. The main visual idea of this collection was to show the perfection with a flaw. The Intentional gaps in jewelry designs symbolize the touch of Time in History and it makes every item of this collection a living reminder of the fragility and grandeur of ancient art.
Adopting this idea I used torn paper as the symbol of fragility and transience of human life and I recreated the views from the certain madrasah from Bukhara and Samarkand in medium detail in white Pergraphica paper for the best representation for the jewelry.
The first terms for the collaboration was to create 1 set design for 1 -2 jewelry items. But I got asked to make slightly different paper compositions for the series of 6 items. That's why later on the color papers were included into compositions.
Cotton Dreams
"The Cotton Dreams" is a collaboration with Uzbek pottery artist Otabek G'aybullayev (@potters_academy).
The paper set design was made to represent his pottery masterpieces and his unique hand-cut pattern design style. The Master created 2 tea sets for this project: the green one with cotton ornament , the serpia one representing the leaves.
The cotton element is common for Uzbek culture and can be found on the ancient murals of Madrasahs around the country. So I took the Ulug'bek Madrasah in Bukhara which facade is decorated with blue mosaics where the cotton ornament is in the composition as the ref for my paper work. I also added the curtains to my paper scene trying to reach the sense of Uzbek adras - the material made half of silk half of cotton with the common pattern on it.
TEPLO STORE Samarkand project
I was asked to make over 100 3D paper swallows of Samarkand hand-made papers and arrange them in well-structurized floating exhibition display for the new Teplo Store in Samarkand by its grand opening in the beginning of June '26. I used paid paper layouts of the swallow model and it took me 10 days to cut and make 100 3D swallows. The most tricky and new deal to me was to make the floating installation of the birds flock on the 3m height with the descending structure in it. All the calculations were made by me beforehand to avoid any prolongation and mistakes while WIP.
30 3D paper swallows of bigger size of watercolor paper 200 gsm were made for the promotion set and Grand Night Teplo Store Samarkand Opening invitations to local bloggers and influencers for this project later on.
The making-of video by Usmanova Liana (fashion photographer/videographer)
