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How it’s made

How we make them

Every piece takes the same road: first an image, then a grid, then hundreds of blocks. The stages below follow one piece through the workshop.
  1. Blocks sorted by colour in a compartment tray, a colour chart, a printed tulip guide and a small board already begun.
    01

    An image

    A photo, a drawing, a memory or simply an idea. The first task is to decide what stays of the image: which line, which colour, which empty space.

  2. 11311131111113233231111132222311113222222311132422523111322222231111322223111132222223113222222223132222222231222222222232222222222322222222222
    1Tea-garden green · 1292White · 813Ink · 444Blue · 15Yellow · 1
    02

    Into a grid

    The image is reduced to a grid in which each square stands for a single block. The palette is narrowed; most pieces are built with fewer than ten colours. This is the moment the piece first becomes ‘pixels’.

  3. A pine strip being cut into blocks on the saw bench.
    03

    Preparing the blocks

    Pine battens are cut into blocks, and the face of each block is cut at an angle of 30 or 45 degrees. The blocks are then sanded and painted, colour by colour. The grain of the wood can still be felt beneath the paint.

  4. In the studio, an artist paints the angle-cut blocks one by one with a magnifier and a fine brush.
    04

    Piece by piece

    The blocks are placed on the board one at a time, in the order shown in the guide. The angled face of each one is turned in one of four directions; the relief of the surface, and an image that changes with the light, come from these small decisions.

  5. Close-up of blocks painted black, grey and white; brush marks and grain texture.
    05

    Up close, from afar

    The finished piece is checked first up close, then from a few steps back. Any colour that does not sit right, or any edge that catches the light the wrong way, is changed.

  6. A framed tulip piece with corner protectors on kraft paper, half covered by thin paper, beside a blank label.
    06

    To its new home

    When the piece is finished we send you photos and a video of it. Then its corners are protected, it is wrapped in foam and shipped free in a sturdy box; it reaches you within ten days, making and shipping included.

Why the angled cut?

A block cut flat reflects light in only one way. Blocks whose faces are cut at 30 or 45 degrees and turned to one of four directions catch the light differently; the same colour looks a shade lighter or darker beside its neighbour.

That is why a piece changes through the day: a face in the morning light, another texture under the evening lamp.

The faces and shadows of angle-cut white, cobalt, yellow and black blocks in side light.

Would you like to try it with your own hands?

See the kitsStep into the workshop