It was a pleasure to feel how paper changed its appearance and form under my hands. It was a unique sensation - simple, tactile, elemental and innocent.

But this change was not exterior only, it was not just the appearance and form that changed; by making cartoneria, I learned then that I was capable of altering the fate of many materials and items (mainly newspaper and cardboard) that normally were discarded and sent it to the garbage can or the recycle bin.

I was taking and rescuing all those elements with no value whatsoever, and giving them new life, use and purpose of being.

So, I started taking a used newspaper or an old cardboard box to make the legs of this fish, or the wings of this pig, or the horns of this frog. It was so much fun! Later, I added more elements to the list: bamboo branches, wire and wood.

This process has had a profound effect on me, and has given me an appreciation for environmental issues through an understanding of the amount of materials that we consume and discard that could be reused and re-made. It is a great feeling to be able to take a useless item and transform it in something that can communicates beauty and harmony to other human beings.

My art is the most genuine expression of freedom and individualism that I can imagine. For me, that means there are no rules, no measurements, no structures to follow, no principles of rhetoric to comply with - no time or space. Cartonerķa provides me with endless opportunities to create and allows me to express things that I can not put into words. Every time I begin working the sense of limitless possibility is so strong that it gives me energy and creativity.