Ros with her Shrewsbury and Ludlow papershades
Ros Freeborn is a paper collage artist based in Muswell Hill who uses all kinds of paper to create her art. She found a way to turn her work into a product - paper lampshades which come as a flatpack in an A4 envelope with five panels of special paper printed with the design she’s created and held together with two wheel-shaped supports. She sells the paper lampshades via her website www.papershades.co.uk and they cost just £30 including postage and packing.
During lockdown Ros was at home in her studio and, like everyone else, longing to visit places, see people and explore the world. So she decided to go travelling through her creativity. The result is a range of Papershades Places, paper lampshades which celebrate a wide variety of places in the United Kingdom.
During lockdown Ros was at home in her studio and, like everyone else, longing to visit places, see people and explore the world. So she decided to go travelling through her creativity. The result is a range of Papershades Places, paper lampshades which celebrate a wide variety of places in the United Kingdom.
 London |  Oxford |
At first she made designs of places which had personal meaning. She says: “I sat down in my studio and started channelling all the places I’ve lived in in my life and have a special connection with. I began with Oxford where I was born and spent some of my childhood; then I created two towns in Shropshire, Ludlow and Shrewsbury which I ‘discovered’ as a teenager while youth hostelling along the Welsh border. Then there’s Yorkshire where my grandmother was brought up and Kent where my grandparents lived. A cousin of mine lived in Cornwall for years and we had so many wonderful family holidays staying with her and exploring the beautiful countryside near Falmouth. I have a daughter in Cambridge and friends in Edinburgh. Once I started thinking about it there was no end to the places I’ve had a connection with and really wanted to celebrate in my paper collage way."
But Ros didn’t stop there. Once these Places Papershades were on the website, local papers and radio stations got in touch and she was invited to talk on local BBC Radio station and be featured in regional papers.
Ros says: “During lockdown, when the shops were shut, online retail became quite the thing. I loved getting orders from people wanting to send Papershades as a present to someone special whom they couldn’t visit. I’d pop in a cheery note saying that my Papershade of Norfolk, for instance, came with love from a daughter to a mother, and I’d send it off to someone in Norwich or Cromer who loved the thoughtfulness of the gift and they they, in turn would send one to someone they loved.
The next thing that happened was that people got in touch with me suggesting I should make designs of places where they lived. So I created designs of places like The Wirral, South Shields, Aberdovey in Wales, Plymouth and Derby. I haven’t lived in those places but it was wonderful to research the area and create an impression of the countryside, the towns and cities and all the important landmarks."
But Ros didn’t stop there. Once these Places Papershades were on the website, local papers and radio stations got in touch and she was invited to talk on local BBC Radio station and be featured in regional papers.
Ros says: “During lockdown, when the shops were shut, online retail became quite the thing. I loved getting orders from people wanting to send Papershades as a present to someone special whom they couldn’t visit. I’d pop in a cheery note saying that my Papershade of Norfolk, for instance, came with love from a daughter to a mother, and I’d send it off to someone in Norwich or Cromer who loved the thoughtfulness of the gift and they they, in turn would send one to someone they loved.
The next thing that happened was that people got in touch with me suggesting I should make designs of places where they lived. So I created designs of places like The Wirral, South Shields, Aberdovey in Wales, Plymouth and Derby. I haven’t lived in those places but it was wonderful to research the area and create an impression of the countryside, the towns and cities and all the important landmarks."
 The Wirral |  Edinburgh |  Norfolk |
Ros continues to create her own impressions of places in paper which are turned into lampshades. She welcomes suggestions from people who’d like to commission a design, with the promise that they’ll buy several of them. She says: “I have a particular palette of paper which I use for these design so that there’s quite a ‘family resemblance’ within them and no doubt at all that they are in my style.”
 | Ros is still creating other Papershades designs. She launched a new range earlier this year - The New Floral collection - which were inspired by a trip to Northumberland at the end of last year. She also has a collection of designs under the banner of Nostalgia, Culinary, Literary and Pick and Mix. Ros also runs workshops at her studio in Muswell Hill as well as running them at crafts fairs such as Living Crafts and Crafts4Crafters. |
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