Creativity Spark: A Winter Installation at Young V&A with Collective Paper Aesthetics

During the first weekend of December, hundreds of young visitors aged five and above, accompanied by caregivers, curatorial staff, and learning teams, took part in Collective Spark—a collaborative design and craft project. Together, they assembled about 500 interlocking truncated tetrahedrons and truncated octahedrons to construct five celebratory structures.

The installation visually expressed the spirit of Christmas through themes of togetherness, play, and STEAM learning. Repetition and variation of the five-point star formed the project's core design language, transforming simple geometric modules into a festive collective experience.

Each cardboard cut-out featured four pop-up stars designed to engage younger participants. Children were then invited to decorate their own star and take it home, extending the creative experience beyond the exhibition space and reinforcing a sense of shared authorship and joy.

The 2025 winter installation welcomed its first visitors on Monday morning at 10 a.m., with an atmosphere of immediate enthusiasm. Children eagerly pushed oversized spheres, lifted falling stars, and crawled beneath a three-legged tree topped with a star-shaped crown. Each structure was designed at a scale and height carefully calibrated to the perspective of children aged two to five, inviting physical engagement, exploration, and play.

Constructed entirely from cardboard, the installation offered a sustainable alternative to conventional Christmas materials, combining recyclability and low environmental impact with warmth, creativity, and the shared joy of making together.

Collective Paper Aesthetics designs and develops audience engagement materials and STEAM education resources in a form of pop-up architecture and furnishing. In that manner, the studio offers a unique experience merging mathematical expertise, hands-on engineering, and universal design as Placemaking.