Juna Horstmans

Layered by Hand

Dutch-Australian artist and designer Juna Horstmans creates tactile collages that celebrate the beauty of everyday life. Now based in East London, her practice draws from a lifelong connection to both Australia and the Netherlands, shaped by her time studying at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam. Working with carefully collected papers – from chocolate wrappers to specialty stocks – Juna treats paper like paint, layering colour, texture and tone to build her compositions.

“My creative process is closely tied to the rhythms of nature and the quiet beauty found in everyday life.”

Often starting from a spontaneous snapshot, Juna cuts and arranges delicate pieces of paper into detailed scenes that reflect her surroundings. Inspired by artists such as Matisse and Nathalie Du Pasquier, as well as the bold forms in Dutch Art Deco, Juna’s work explores still life and surface with a sense of quiet playfulness and compositional precision.

Paper, Colour and Everyday Scenes

Still life remains a recurring motif in Juna’s work – vases of flowers, tablescapes and domestic objects reimagined through bold colour and careful layering. Colour plays a central role, guiding the mood and texture of each piece.

As she continues to evolve her hybrid artistic and design practice, her work expands into new areas including tufting, branding and stop-motion animation, yet always remains rooted in a tactile, hands-on approach. Whether through paper, carpet or film, her practice offers a thoughtful study of the small, often unnoticed moments that shape our daily lives.