Based in Paris, Aline Houdé-Diebolt works as a freelance paper designer and set designer in France and abroad. Regularly collaborating with major luxury brands, she’s known for creating elaborate paper sets that include meticulously made props, handcrafted piece by piece. With her sets varying in size and scale, her work is tailor-made for each client and includes anything from commercials to windows displays.
But oddly enough, Houdé-Diebolt didn’t start out as a paper artist. A textile designer by training, she graduated from the École Supérieure d’Arts Appliqués Duperré in 2007. “Colors, patterns, and materials are a real passion to me,” she explained in an interview with Strictly Paper. “It always has been this way. I also learned the Traditional Chinese paper technique in a design institute in China.”
“When I decided to become a freelancer, I started by creating textile patterns for a few brands,” she further relayed. “But I won’t fit my need. I needed to crafted things. To manipulate and touch materials and colors. That’s how I came to paper.”
With a passion for color and texture, inspiration comes easy to Houdé-Diebolt. “Everything around me can be transformed into inspiration,” she says. “Cooking, architecture, nature… I always try to take a lot of photos of things that I see everyday, keeping them in my Personal Inspiration Booklet. And of course, traveling is a huge inspirational source.”
Take a look at some of her original creations in the gallery below.
