Davy and Kristin McGuire are a British artist duo known for building miniature worlds out of paper, light, animation and stagecraft. Their work sits between theatre, installation and film, often using projected imagery, cut paper sets and live performance to create scenes that feel both handmade and cinematic.
- They work across papercraft, animation, projection mapping, theatre, film and dance.
- Much of their practice depends on miniature sets that are filmed or projected onto, rather than traditional painted backdrops.
- The duo became widely known for The Icebook, an immersive paper theatre piece.
- They later adapted Diana Wynne Jones’s Howl’s Moving Castle for the stage.
- They won the 2013 Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award.
How do Davy and Kristin McGuire make their work?
The McGuires make work by combining physical construction with moving image. Their sets are often built from layered paper, card and other lightweight materials, then animated through projection, shadow and camera. That gives them a distinctive look: crisp silhouettes, delicate textures, and moving light that makes static objects behave like living scenes.
Rather than treating papercraft as decoration, they use it as an architectural and theatrical medium. Walls, trees, figures and landscapes are cut, folded and assembled into compact environments, then activated by film, dance or live performance. The result is a hybrid form that can read as an illustrated book, a stage set and a moving image all at once.
Why did The Icebook matter?
The Icebook helped establish the McGuires’ reputation because it showed how paper and projection could create a fully immersive narrative space. The work used intricate paper scenery and animated light to build a dreamlike world that changed in front of the audience. It was not simply a film screened on a surface; the material surface itself was part of the storytelling.
That approach mattered because it pushed papercraft beyond craft demonstration. The piece showed that fragile, inexpensive materials could support sophisticated visual storytelling, especially when combined with timing, scale and movement. For artists working in theatre and installation, it became a useful example of how low-tech materials can produce high-impact atmospheres.
What does their style look like in practice?
Their visual language usually depends on depth, layering and controlled light. A single scene may include cut-paper figures, hand-built scenery, projected animation and carefully timed movement, all arranged so that the viewer notices both the illusion and the construction. The handmade edges remain visible, which keeps the work tactile rather than slick.
That balance is important. The McGuires do not hide the material truth of paper, glue and frame work; instead, they let those materials carry emotion and scale. A folded sheet can become a building, a forest or a body. Because the materials are modest, the craft has to be precise, and that precision is part of the effect.
What other work are they known for?
Beyond smaller installations and performance pieces, the duo adapted Howl’s Moving Castle for the stage, bringing their combination of visual invention and theatrical construction to a larger narrative form. That project showed how their methods could move from intimate paper worlds to more expansive storytelling without losing their handmade character.
Their practice also earned recognition through the Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award in 2013, which helped position them within contemporary performance and interdisciplinary art. Their work is often discussed alongside artists who blur the line between theatre and moving image, but the McGuires stand out for the consistency of their paper-based approach.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Davy and Kristin McGuire mainly theatre makers or visual artists?
They are both, and the work does not sit neatly in one category. Their pieces use theatre’s attention to space and timing, but they also depend on the construction methods of sculpture, animation and installation. That mixed practice is central to their identity as a duo.
Why is papercraft so important to their work?
Papercraft gives their scenes a scale and fragility that other materials would not provide. Paper cuts cleanly, layers well, and responds strongly to light, which makes it ideal for projection and shadow. In their work, paper is not a substitute for more durable materials; it is the main source of atmosphere and meaning.
What should be noticed when seeing one of their pieces?
The most striking details are often the ones that reveal how the illusion is built: seams, folds, edges, flickers of projection and shifts in perspective. Those signs of making are part of the experience, not flaws. The pleasure lies in watching a small, constructed surface become a convincing world.