Hi bitterbark!

I actually have no clue of there are any universities that offer programs like this (it is possible, though..I studied painting, which was good for clearing open-ended studio time for playing with materials) If you feel like you want a guide, there are many books about popup books and paper engineering out there, which might be helpful. (I've found some that I like by searching at Strand and Amazon,but the library has things too.)

I don't usually take on interns because I work from home (I don't have a studio-studio with lots of people and desks :) ) sooorrryy!

Thank you thank you. I, um, am usually hiding out on my computer and only do "social" stuff from my phone. (My version of self control is having a designated "place" for different activities. I write my angry emails from a beautiful cafe.) So all of my computer time is usually just cranking out work. BUT- I've been working on a talk for May. And writing talks is a moderately agonizing process for me… so I've been dabbling in distraction more than usual.

Why, thank you! I know that it is an unsatisfying answer, but it is always different. Some client relationships feel like balanced collaborations, some feel like they simply decided to give me free reign. Some are boringly straightforward - people tell me exactly what they want and I don't get to be that creative (I just make it look nice and give my brain a rest). That's fine too, but those projects never make it onto the site. If I plan to visit LA, I'll broadcast it!

Usually the inspiration comes from the project itself. (If it doesn't, I start suspecting that the project isn't a good match.) Sometimes, however, if a project is really open-ended, I'll go fishing around in old notebooks/sketchbooks and use an old idea that was never realized. Definitely still helpful to keep a sketchbook (and/or piles of papers!)

Hi Jim,
Yes. We ended up using #9 gauge sewing needles, although thick acupuncture needles worked well too. For paper, a light text weight paper for the fore-edge (the side of the bend nearest to the needle/record) worked best. The bound side of the fold was reinforced with 200lb paper for weight (to keep the needle steady.)

I'm not an expert, but I'm pretty sure that creativity is not inborn or genetically-obtained. In working through projects, you learn some amazing things. In looking at other people's work, you understand the parameters of the current conversation and think of how you fit (or don't) within it. I think creativity is a product of that doing and looking.

I also want you to take the recursive card and recreate/ reinterpret it! But it not a template- and never has been a template. It is a unique format because (as far as I know) no single entity has authority over this design- each iteration that I know of has been reverse-engineered and invented anew. My design, for example, is a bastardized version of kirigami expert (and friend), Jeff Rutzky's design (which I scrappily analyzed.) Jeff in turn, had been inspired by another similar card that he saw out in the world somewhere and reinterpreted. None of us used a template. By publishing a template, it changes from this cool, dynamic, authorless, trademarkless thing and turns into...well.."a template." I don't feel comfortable doing this with a format which I don't consider my personal property.

So: research kiragami, flexographic cards, study the flat image on my blog..and Hack it! It is one double-sided sheet with cuts and folds and two small dots of glue.

Hello hello. I have a bunch of unreal messages in my inbox, which are weighing heavily on my soul. But I'll be flying twice next week and will have some time to catch up, I think. Wanna email me kelli at kellianderson.com and I'll do my best to help? Thank you for the compliment. Yaaayy!

Thanks! Do you have a Twitter account? I tend to keep people informed about my projects there. I'm @kellianderson. I have a Facebook account but try to not burden friends/family/neighbors/etc with my work news too much. In other words, I use Facebook for more personal reasons (keeping in touch with old friends) and Twitter for my day-to-day public conversations.

Well, I didn't say that we need to recreate reality- rather, we need to stop taking our preconceived notions about reality for granted. I wanted to make the point that reality is infinitely surprising and is oftentimes much stranger (and filled with more possibility) than we assume. Anyway, I'm yammering on...

A lot of inspiration just comes out of making things and considering their implications. And by looking at a ton of art and design. At times I feel disproportionately influenced by some books/ art / thinkers, but it is always changing. Does that help at all? (I'll keep thinking about it...)

Thank you for your enthusiasm (not sure about genius though!) There aren't any shortcuts that I know of. Just do the work that you believe in and work hard at it. Take the time to understand what you are doing. That's all I know for sure.

Thanks. Yeah- anything that you are viewing on a computer was made and/or manipulated in Illustrator and Photoshop. I use Photoshop more heavily than Illustrator (to do lighting effects, texture, etc.) I use Illustrator to draw shapes and layout text.

Thanks! So... I don't have assistants or interns usually (although I had an awesome intern named Lindsay Calhoun over the summer, we made a giant vinyl mural) But everything I work on (pretty much) is a collaboration of some sort.

For example, the bride and groom helped me assemble the paper record players (and they wrote the song and handled the correspondence with the record place.) I put people to work...

Ha ha ha. Maybe sometimes. In school I studied a field which lacks an economic support system, so I do still have this slight sense of surprise when there is $ in what I do!

But seriously, doing things the long-handed way minimizes expenses. While die-cutting might be prohibitively expensive for a short-run project, craft-roboing is not (it just takes half-past-forever.)

Some of the projects happen to make money and some don't. (I always know which it will be going into it and just try to ensure that I have an adequate amount of $ projects to balance out the no-$ projects.) I try to be responsible and avoid devising preposterously-spendy solutions for impoverished projects.

Is that helpful at all? I use mint.com to keep track of it all for taxes…

Thanks so much, Im glad you like them! I'm not sure I want to repeat the project, which was custom-tailored (no pun intended) to my friends' "adventure wedding". But if you email me and let me know what you're thinking, I can think about it and/or offer advice. :). Thanks again! Kelli@kellianderson.com

Thanks!!!! I use all kinds o' fonts, usually modified and/or texturized. By the numbers, the ones I use the most are probably Gotham (me and everyone else) and Heroic Condensed.

Thanks! Sometimes I just add noise in photoshop and blur it a bit, but sometimes I add layer masks with texture. Those textures are just from scraps of paper I scan in. The one I like best right now was created with a stamp pad- just stamping it on a blank piece of paper and then scanning that in. -Kelli

Thank you! It depends on the nature of the work you'd be doing at either place. You want to be doing as close to "your ideal" work as possible. (Ideal being variable : "whatever you're excited about doing.") Whichever place facilitates this best, go with that!

Otherwise you might be better off investing time in creating self -initiated work while in school.

(all of this depends on your financial situation of course - if you can't eat, you can't make things)

Thanks! I don't know what gravity form is. I started with the organic themes template and hard- coded in my sidebar items. Hope that helps. Cheers, k

Thanks! Yes- some of it. I programmed the google map splash page interface, as well and the jquery slideshows and navigation and CSS. My boyfriend,Daniel, migrated the site into Modx (an open source content management system). And then a developer on a web forum helped me adapt the jquery code for easy use in Modx. So yes... And I had help. :)