Hannah Lane

Hannah Lane is an award-winning wood and paper artist employing traditional woodworking techniques to produce tactile bespoke interior artworks for exhibition, installation, and commission. Her process combines two materials that began at the same source – wood, a material of longevity, and paper, a short-term material that she recycles into a solid material, thus extending its journey. As the pieces are hand worked each material’s grain exposes the consequences of her working actions, revealing the unseen internal layered imprint as the surface is scraped away.

After accidentally leaving a book out in the rain, Hannah could not bear to throw away her ruined book, loosing the material along with the story, creativity and information it holds, so she decided to reuse it. She had previously specialised in woodworking during her degree and as paper originates from wood, she transferred those wood working techniques to the paper once dried. Recycling has always been an important element within her work, so to be able to create a technique using the printed pages of unwanted books and paper that no longer had a use, became a defining factor within her practice.

Hannah handmakes each item in her Nottinghamshire studio, beginning by making the material: each page is layered and transformed back into a solid wood-like block. Traditional woodworking methods are then used to shape the objects; the unique surface patterns on the paper when the objects are worked can never be recreated and echoes wood grain; wood becomes paper becomes wood.

This collection of three pieces is entitled ‘Thrive’, showing a bud, the blossom, leading to a bloom. Each piece is created from layers of wood and recycled paper. The ‘bud’ begins tall and slim with many different layers not yet seen, leading to a rounder form that depicts development, and an opening, leading to an open vessel. This final piece is exposed and showcases the exciting layers and patterns that have been hidden away, layers that come to life and ‘Thrive’ with development and growth.