Local photographer Nicholas Young came to me a couple months ago with a project in mind. He had taken some fantastic photos featuring the more esoteric parts of our beautiful and gritty urban landscape and wanted me to frame them. After trying out some patterned papers, I realized that they weren't quite catching the vibe of the photos and enhancing them, which was the goal. I've always been drawn to the vibrant colors of solid lokta papers so I started playing around with those. Because the paper itself is made from the bark of a lokta plant, it carries many irregularities and imperfections, which I find beautiful. I felt that Nick was trying to get across the same viewpoint with his photos so they felt like a perfect fit. I've done some frames with all four sides having a different paper, but never in this way, and I thought it created a dramatic yet subtle frame for his photos. The collection is currently being displayed at the Unicorn Cafe in Evanston, IL until the end of May. To see the rest of the collection please visit Urbanscapes.us where they are all available for purchase.
