“When I left university I thought I would always want to work in paper....”
Meet Helen Friel Words by Laura Yearley Images belong to Helen Friel
Helen Friel is a London-based freelance Paper Engineer and Illustrator. Since graduating from Central Saint Martins in 2009, she has been working with paper for both editorial and advertising clients, including Computer Arts and Tesco Mobile. I was lucky enough to contact Helen and speak with her about her extraordinary career, discussing her future and how she exceeds in her delicate creations. What attracted me to Friel was her incredible models, made from card and paper. As you can see they are very well made and complex. I wondered how long it took her to make the models. I was surprised to find out that it can take up to a day or two to make a single model. However, Friel has spent longer amounts of time on bigger projects. For the French RTE (Réseau de transport d’électricité) animation, Friel spent around three weeks creating the set. To check out the animation visit her site!
Image Above: Helen Friel Left Image: Helen working in her studio
You’ll be surprised to find that some people prefer many different careers in their life, and some just prefer the one. When she left university, Friel thought she would always want to work in paper, but now she feels the need for development. The paper engineeer started with children’s pop-up books and has now transitioned to working on an illustrated children’s book. It’s something she wouldn’t have had the opportunity to do without the work she has done in paper.
Friel can work for anyone as she works on a freelance basis. She started out by recieving clients through her website, which was in fact a blogpost at the time. As her career progressed, she was starting to get clients through “word of mouth”. Friel worked a lot with Chris Turner and he was kind enough to recommend the illustrator to his clients. She is also advertised on one of her agent’s (Debut Art) websites, in an illustrator’s catalogue. Now she recieves work through online contact via her website and social media.
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Friel still works with paper despite also making illustrations. She finds the model-making “very therapeutic”. The only thing she finds frustrating is when a measured piece doesn’t fit and it cannot be worked out why.
The mathematical aspect of the job is the most appealing. Usually as long the measurements and angles are correct then everything fits together. Besides working, Friel spends a lot of time walking, either to her studio or out and about at the weekend. She likes to explore further than London and go on longer hikes. Friel is also an organiser of the ‘Ladies, Wine and Design’ events, where women design-enthusiasts meet and socialise. “In a field where many of us work alone it’s very encouraging to find out that other people experience the same frustrations.” Kindly enough, Friel invited me to join along if I was near the area.
Image Below: Helen posing with her new creation - the pop-up storybook, Midnight Creatures
Last of all, it was interesting to find out what Friel actually likes the least about her career. I wouldn’t have suspected there would be any bad aspects about it, however Friel says otherwise. She hates it when she is not happy with a piece of work, because there wasn’t enough time to complete it to the standard she would like. Friel also finds it frustrating, “when you feel that you can push a brief further but the client is set on something you know won’t be the best outcome.” Friel knows best! “Paperwork isn’t fun either. My agents take away a lot of that but I’d love to hand over all the admin to someone!”
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Image Above: Paper Lobster created for Ted Baker’s Annual Report. Helen pictured in front of Ted Baker’s London Headquarters.
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