Paris-based sculptor Eva Jospin has spent over a decade redefining the boundaries of contemporary sculpture through an uncompromising dedication to a single, humble material: corrugated cardboard. Born in 1975 and a graduate of the prestigious École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Jospin has consistently eschewed the traditional sculptor’s mediums of bronze, marble, or steel. Instead, she turns to the discarded, the ephemeral, and the ubiquitous. By carving, layering, and assembling thousands of sheets of cardboard, she conjures monumental, immersive environments—predominantly dense, intricate forests and architectural follies that appear both ancient and surreal. Her practice sits at the intersection of environmental meditation, architectural intervention, and pure aesthetic wonder.
In a contemporary art landscape often dominated by digital media and conceptual abstraction, Jospin’s deeply tactile, labour-intensive approach demands physical presence. Her towering woodlands and grottoes do not merely occupy a gallery space; they transform it, challenging the viewer to step into a liminal realm where the boundary between the natural world and the human-made environment dissolves completely.
The Alchemy of the Mundane: Cardboard as Canvas
The decision to utilize cardboard is central to the philosophical weight of Jospin’s oeuvre. Cardboard is the ultimate emblem of modern consumerism—a transient packaging material designed to protect goods in transit before being discarded. In Jospin’s hands, however, this mundane byproduct of global commerce undergoes a radical alchemy. Through an exhaustive process of cutting, stripping, and stacking, she reveals the material’s hidden textures. The corrugated edges become the rough bark of a mature oak; the smooth surfaces mimic the sweeping curves of a forest floor or the structured rigidity of classical architecture.
This transformation is achieved without the use of paint or superficial colouring. Jospin relies entirely on the natural, earthy palette of the cardboard—a spectrum of ochres, browns, and muted golds. This monochrome aesthetic forces the viewer to focus entirely on the form, texture, and scale of the work. The forests she creates are not botanical replicas but psychological landscapes. They tap into the collective unconscious, evoking the primeval forests of European folklore and fairy tales—spaces of danger, transformation, and enchantment. The sheer density of her cardboard groves creates a sense of claustrophobia and awe, mirroring the complex, often overwhelming nature of the wilderness itself. It is a masterful subversion of material: the very substance used to package the modern world is repurposed to remind us of the ancient, untamed environments we have largely paved over.
A Subterranean Symphony: “Promenade(s) en Champagne” for Ruinart
Jospin’s ability to weave her intricate aesthetic into the fabric of established institutions and heritage brands is perhaps best exemplified by her selection as the 2023 guest artist for Ruinart’s prestigious “Carte Blanche” commission. Tasked with interpreting the legacy of the historic Champagne house, Jospin delivered “Promenade(s) en Champagne,” a sprawling, multi-faceted installation that drew profound inspiration from the region’s unique terroir.
Rather than focusing solely on the vineyards themselves, Jospin delved into the subterranean architecture of the Champagne production process—the crayères, or chalk cellars, where the wine matures in darkness. Her cardboard sculptures for this commission echoed the complex geological layers of the region, translating the porous, pale chalk into towering, layered cardboard reliefs. The installation functioned as a physical journey, mirroring the descent into the cellars and the slow, quiet alchemy of fermentation.
Beyond the monumental installations, Jospin’s collaboration with Ruinart extended to the creation of an exclusive, limited-edition wooden case for a Blanc de Blancs jeroboam. Held together by custom leather straps, the wooden exterior opens to reveal a miniature, meticulously crafted cardboard landscape cradling the bottle. This piece serves as a microcosm of her broader practice—a highly controlled, architectural exterior giving way to a wild, organic interior. The Ruinart commission cemented her status not merely as a sculptor, but as a creator of holistic, immersive environments that engage directly with the history and geography of their setting.
Haute Couture and the “Chambre de Soie”: The Dior Collaborations
The intricate, highly crafted nature of Jospin’s work has also found a natural resonance within the highest echelons of the fashion industry, leading to a sustained and highly fruitful creative dialogue with the House of Dior and its Artistic Director, Maria Grazia Chiuri. This collaboration represents a fascinating convergence of Design disciplines, where spatial sculpture meets the meticulous artistry of haute couture.
The zenith of this partnership occurred during the Dior Haute Couture Autumn-Winter 2021-2022 presentation. Jospin conceptualised and designed the “Chambre de Soie” (Silk Room), a breathtaking 40-metre-long immersive gallery that served as the backdrop for the collection. While her signature medium is cardboard, for this project, her intricate line drawings of lush, imaginary forests were translated into monumental hand-embroidered panels. This Herculean task was realised in collaboration with the Chanakya Atelier and the Chanakya School of Craft in Mumbai, bringing together French contemporary art and elite Indian craftsmanship.
Her relationship with Dior has continued to evolve. For the 10th anniversary of the celebrated Dior Lady Art project slated for 2025, Jospin was invited to reinterpret the iconic Lady Dior handbag. Applying her architectural and naturalistic sensibilities to the accessory, she incorporated delicate embroidery and sculptural elements, including a miniature balustrade, transforming the bag into a portable piece of textured poetry. Furthermore, her involvement extended to designing an exceptional limited-edition trunk for the Miss Dior fragrance, adorned with floral and arboreal motifs. These collaborations underscore Jospin’s versatility and her ability to translate her distinct visual vocabulary across vastly different scales and materials.
The Cour Carrée and Beyond: Monumentality in Public Spaces
While gallery exhibitions and luxury collaborations highlight her technical precision, Jospin’s monumental public installations demonstrate her capacity to alter our perception of historic urban spaces. A defining moment in her career was the 2016 installation “Panorama” within the Cour Carrée of the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Placing a contemporary artwork in the central courtyard of one of the world’s most storied museums is an intimidating prospect, yet Jospin’s “Panorama” commanded the space with quiet authority. The exterior of the installation presented a mirrored architectural pavilion, reflecting the classical stone facades of the Louvre and camouflaging the structure within its historic surroundings. However, stepping inside revealed a 360-degree, fully immersive cardboard forest. This stark juxtaposition—the rigid, rational geometry of the Louvre’s exterior against the wild, chaotic, and organic cardboard interior—created a profound sensory experience.
This approach to public art is characteristic of Jospin’s broader strategy. She frequently employs architectural elements—arches, grottos, and pavilions—as framing devices. These structures act as thresholds, guiding the viewer from the familiar urban environment into her fabricated wilderness. By situating her forests within grand architectural contexts, she highlights the tension between human civilization and the natural world, suggesting that beneath the veneer of our constructed cities lies an ancient, irrepressible wilderness waiting to reclaim its territory.
Ecology, Ephemerality, and the Absence of the Human Figure
A critical analysis of Eva Jospin’s work within the broader context of the Visual arts reveals a profound, albeit understated, ecological narrative. The most striking element of her vast landscapes is the absolute absence of the human figure. These are unpeopled worlds, ancient and indifferent to human existence. This deliberate omission forces viewers to confront their own scale and significance—or lack thereof—in the face of nature’s monumental complexity.
Furthermore, the tension between the subject matter (ancient, enduring forests) and the medium (fragile, biodegradable cardboard) cannot be ignored. Cardboard is inherently ephemeral; it is susceptible to moisture, fire, and the simple degradation of time. By constructing symbols of natural permanence from a material defined by its transience, Jospin prompts a meditation on the fragility of our own environment. The cardboard forests stand as a haunting premonition: a representation of a natural world that is increasingly vulnerable to human consumption and industrial expansion. Her work is not explicitly activist, but its quiet insistence on the vulnerability of both material and subject matter speaks volumes about the precarious state of the ecological balance.
The Enduring Legacy of Transience
Eva Jospin has achieved something remarkable in contemporary sculpture: she has forged an entirely unique visual language from the literal detritus of modern life. Her journey from the Parisian studios to the Cour Carrée of the Louvre, the historic cellars of Ruinart, and the runways of Dior is a testament to the universal resonance of her vision.
By demanding that we look closer at a material we have been conditioned to ignore, she recalibrates our perception of value, beauty, and permanence. Her cardboard realms are spaces of profound quietude and intense mystery, offering a necessary refuge from the relentless pace of the modern age. In the intricate layers of her forests, Jospin reminds us that enchantment is not a relic of the past, but something that can be meticulously constructed from the ground up, one sheet of cardboard at a time. Her legacy is one of transformative vision—proving that true artistry lies not in the nobility of the materials, but in the depth of the imagination that wields them.