For over 20 years, my work as a paper cutter has played a significant role in my life. Alongside this, I’ve spent many years working with climate and sustainability.
With the project Genbrugsfolket (The Waste Paper People), these two worlds meet, giving me the opportunity to share my passion for both topics with participants in my workshops. This very fusion was the subject of an article by the danish news outlet Faktor.dk, which begins as follows:
Paper cut artist Torben Jarlstrøm Clausen transforms old gift wrap into small figures with personality. Through the project Genbrugsfolket, he shows how recycling can create both meaning and presence.
In a cardboard box after Christmas Eve lay a pile of gift wrap—crumpled and used—ready to be discarded. According to the sorting guidelines, it was destined for residual waste and incineration. But instead, Torben Jarlstrøm Clausen picked up his scissors—and began to cut. What was meant to be burned became small, colorful figures full of life and expression. He called them Genbrugsfolket.
“I thought it was a shame to burn that paper. Maybe the scissors could create something out of it,” he says. “And that’s how Genbrugsfolket was born—instead of ending up in the incinerator.”
Read the full article on Faktor.dk (in Danish): Fra affald til liv: Torben klipper sjælen frem i papiret
