Visitors to the Restaurant Hüsy in Blankenberg, canton Bern, might be drawn in by the smell of lamb chops, but their eyes immediately focus on the beautiful lace-like paper cuttings hanging on the walls. As a child, you might have made snowflakes by folding and cutting pieces of paper. But Hans-Jürgen Glatz takes this originally Asian technique to another level. Combining it with psaligraphy (using cutting tools to create scenic or ornamental silhouettes), Glatz produces incredibly intricate black-and-white works of art which bring an aura of serenity to his restaurant. More than 30 years ago Glatz, who comes from the Black Forest in Germany, met a Swiss girl on the shores of Lake Thun in the Bernese Oberland, an encounter that led not only to marriage, but also to a second career as a paper cutting artist. Glatz, who is now the restaurant’s owner and chef, is also on the board of the Swiss Paper Cutting Association and is a well-known figure in the Swiss paper cutting community.
