Natalia Gianinazzi's Artist Profile Card (Left) & Art Card (Right)
TAH: Does anyone know who shot bunny???
NG: I do. But you could find out as well…the solution is not so far away from the shotted bunny…
TAH: Your Original Art Cards (Shown below) are paper cuts, the same technique you used for your Grüsli Family Tree piece that is featured on your web site?
NG: Yes.
TAH: They appear to be one piece, are they?
NG: If you mean the family tree: Yes, the whole tree is one piece of paper, every element is connected. The Grüsli on your cards are pieces of a trial I made, the paper was too thin so for the final 3 Family trees I used a thicker paper to have more thickness. So, the result on your cards is as well that each one is one piece. There are no doubles.
TAH: They’re incredibly intricate and beautifully and so precisely executed. When we first opened your cards, and realized they were cut out of paper, we stared at them in disbelief. How did you do these!?
NG: I did that when I was staying at artist Carlos Amorales Studio in Mexico City. He has this great lasercut machine. So, I first drew by hand all the Grüsli than scanned them, made the composition and the tree and finally lasercutted it. After that I had to take out all the parts I did not need, this was a lot of work because there are many textures and little details. Final step was to put very little pieces of tape behind the whole so that I could attach it to a white support paper. The whole thing took a very long time, but I like the way it came out.
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Family Tree paper cut detail / Photo courtesy of N. Gianinazzi
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TAH: The Grüsli definitely exude personality and a wide spectrum of attitude. One in particular, Number 644 Steffi oh La La Grüsli, who is she and what is her story?
NG: Steffi oh La La Grüsli, is a very lovely but a little bit naif Grüsli. She first met nr. 614 hungry wolf and fell in love with him. But he is an hungry wolf and as everyone knows one little white rabbit is not enough, so the poor Steffi oh La La was confronted for the first time with the hard reality. (I’ve attached an archive picture when they where still happy together). After this sad adventure and a couple of flirts she met the nr. 605 french Tapiruz, a very charmant personality. They fell in Love and had 2 children: 708 Surprised flying Rabbiruz and nr. 709 Striped Rabbiruz (Rabbiruz are the result of the mating between Grüsli rabbits and Grüsli Tapiruz).
But life goes on and the novelas never end. So, here is the last info I have: Steffi lives in Germany and is happy with her new adoptive family (rumors say, she sees hungry wolf again sometimes), french Tapiruz and son Striped Tapiruz are living in Switzerland near Zurich. About the Surprised flying Rabbiruz I have less news, but probably is flying around the world discovering things with his half-French half-naif charme.
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TAH: There is one Original Art Card that is a silhouette, anything you can add about this one?
NG: This is the soul of one of the Tapi on the tree. Can you find out from which one? View Family Tree
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TAH: What are the 5 languages you know how to speak, and how did you come to learn so many languages?
NG: I speak Italian (native language), French, German, English and Spanish.
I’m Swiss, and in Switzerland we have 4 national languages (Italian, French, German, and Romansh). I was born in the Italian speaking sector so I learned French and German in school, well I actually really learned german when I moved to Zurich 8 years ago…when you just have it in school 2 hours a week doesn’t help that much(mostly when you are a teenager and have other things in mind). I learned Spanish when I was 18 years old and travelling in Mexico for 1 month. At this time I could not speak English so because spanish is so similar to Italian I listened to it and learnd it. I learned English in 1999 when I lived for more than one year in San Francisco. I fell totally in love with this city and still now feel that I belong more there then in Zurich.
The good thing about knowing different languages is that it makes your life abroad much easier, and it is for me a sign of respect to the locals.
TAH: Did you, or do you, collect trading cards, and if so what kind?
NG: No, I don’t. I collect old metal boxes. When I was a child I use to play with these train and airplane cards. You know the ones where you have the picture and on the backs all the technical info. Then you ask, for ex: How heavy is your plane? And if yours is the heaviest, then you take the card. (Mini-Trumps Fact Cards)
We encourage anyone who pulls one of Natalia’s Original Art Cards to go to the Grüsli web site to view the Family Tree, and also to find the Grüsli on their card in the “Collection” section.
Additional images provided by Natalia Gianinazzi. All rights reserved.
