Nine discoveries from the worlds of paper models, paper sculpture and automata: current events, recent releases and a rediscovered resource. Updated 18 September 2026.
AUTOMATA MAGAZINE — September–October 2026
Fourteen Balls Toy Company, cam design, prototyping and Barry Falkner’s The Sneeze : a new issue that moves naturally between history, mechanism and making.
Kamiphony — a room of kinetic paper machines
Cybèle Young turns Japanese paper, movement, sound and light into a room-sized ensemble of kinetic machines whose small repetitive gestures seem oddly alive.
A Luminous Ark — paper birds over Venice
Qiuwen Wen combines Tyvek paper, hand-cut feathers, metal frames and internal light to suspend a luminous flock above Homo Faber 2026 in Venice.
The Hastings Contraption — four makers, one machine
Tom Haney, Fi Henshall, Carlos Zapata and Joseph Wallace join forces in Hastings to build a large mobile mechanical artwork from reclaimed local materials.
11 Piki no Neko — a layered Paper Theater
A September release from Ensky builds depth by stacking precisely laser-cut sheets rather than constructing conventional folded volumes.
Paper at watch scale — micro-origami and paper sculpture
Micro-origami manta rays and a layered cotton-paper crocodile show what happens when paper craft is pushed to watch-dial scale.
Geared Goose — a pecking cardboard automaton
Released on 31 August, Rob Ives’s corrugated-card goose turns a rocking body into a pecking action through a visible geared mechanism.
Purring Cat — a paper automaton with a voice
Rob Ives’s August release gives a paper cat an intermittent purr using a partly toothed wheel: a small exploration of mechanical sound.
Crafting Your Museums — Hong Kong in paper
Rediscovered through Papermau this September, a 2020 museum collection offers four downloadable models with room for personal choices of colour and detail.
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