The Paper Lives of Zim & Zou
One look at the artwork of Zim & Zou and I'm transported back to those classes in school where I dreamt of making magnificent cut-outs with my amateur skills.
Zim & Zuo is a duo of French artists based in Dordogne. Composed of Lucie Thomas and Thibault Zimmermann, the two artists studied graphic design for three years and eventually walked away from computer design to focus all their energies on handmade installations. Using tactile materials such as paper, wood, and thread, their exquisite installations echo with the precise and elegant craftsmanship of hand drawing, hand cutting, and hand assembling.
The most commonly used material is paper. Zim & Zuo have an uncanny ability to transform a blank 2D material and give it volume, mass and an identity of its own.
Zim & Zuo have worked for various brands, from IBM and Microsoft to The Washington Post and TIME. If you’re aware of Hermès, you’re probably already familiar with the duo’s artwork. Zim & Zuo have made window displays for a number of stores of the luxury goods company worldwide. For these visual stories of the store windows, Zim & Zuo also use leather cutoffs from the Hermèes workshops, along with paper.
