From pieces of everyday white paper, a series of delightful stop-motion animations illuminates how a simple material can be transformed into a sophisticated design. Created by Japenese designer Tomohiro Okazaki, who runs a studio called SWIMMING, “Paper Study” is a series of short intervals in which pieces of cut, folded, and sculpted paper appears to move on its own. Flat sheets transform into voluminous structures before collapsing back into a single plane, and arches, circles, and myriad other shapes move in sync.

Okazaki is known for his playful optical animations using matches and other household objects. See more on SWIMMING’s YouTube channel and the designer’s website.

A still from a video of animations made from white pieces of paper in different cut shapes and arrangements

An animated gif of a square piece of paper with circular holes that appear to be moving around on their own

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