Oh. My. God. Joseph Lucien Warren, a.k.a. imagesurgery, is an Essex-based artist and designer who has created these amazing laser-cut butterflies out of maps. They are available at The Conran Shop in the UK and will be exhibited at the London Design Festival.
Department of Everyday Visualingual 
i just cut my mapquest directions into the shape of a butterfly, does this count?
They’re pretty, but isn’t there something sort of easy and obviously seductive about combining random maps with the shapes of random butterflies? Both elements have their appeal, but what does the combination really mean? Anything? Or, is it just pretty fluff?
True enough, but does everything have to be complex? Isn’t it enough that two pleasing things brought together in this project yield a pleasing result? I feel like I tend to overthink my own work, and it’s actually refreshing to just appreciate something that’s fairly simple.
I agree that art can be simple, especially when it’s this breathtaking!
Pingback: Laser Cut Butterflies by Joseph Lucien Warren « Lionhug
Pingback: Papercuts by Helen Musselwhite « Visualingual
Wow, this is absolutely beautiful, and I don’t see anything simple about it. I love it 🙂
Dave
Have a look at:
http://www.traceybush.com
where there are links between the species of butterfly and the material used, and it’s not just maps!
Thanks for pointing out that artist’s work! Yes, those butterflies definitely make more sense to me.