UK-based artisan Omid Asadi traded in his boxing gloves and engineering career to focus on his craft since leaving his native Iran: turning large leaves into beautiful carved sculptures.
He describes how the work began:
Art for me is the way of looking differently to this world and around myself. I started to think why nobody paid attention to these beautiful leaves and trod on them, because of their name – if they were called flowers we wouldn’t tread on them at all! I wanted to give the leaves another Life and make art from them. This was my first step to becoming an artist and my leaf cutting art led to a very successful way. I collect beautiful leaves, [then] dry and press the leaves before sketching out complicated patterns to apply to each one. After sketching I start cutting with knife. Each piece can take between a week and two months to complete as a slight slip of the hand could rip the surface and destroy hours of work.
His work is also available on Facebook and Instagram. He’s currently pursuing a graduate degree in fine art, with plans to graduate in 2018.