Funny how Origami Cubed also works.
We were in Ms. Keller’s third grade class at McKinley Elementary when a girl named Han taught me and Avi how to make festive, starlike orbs out of folded paper squares. Origami balls, we called them, and it was this term that I searched for twenty years later, when, in a flash, those memories of girlish folding and assembling re-emerged. Five years later, I am a keen constructor of all sorts of starry and cuboid shapes, though I am not yet showing promise as an engineer of new modular origami patterns. Though referential, my folding is nevertheless a domain of steady learning and high-stakes creativity. It’s a way to keep my hands busy and my mind nimble, often in circumstances that would otherwise feel like a waste of time. In some social situations, the folding is something of an escape—but it can also make for a brilliant main event when the crowd is right.
Color. Pattern. Texture. Simple algebra. The way paper remembers nearly everything. Mountain folds, valley folds. Complex geometry. Thinking in two dimensions, in three dimensions, then in two, then in three again. Folding patiently. The importance of a precise crease. Folding absent-mindedly. Slight soreness at the thumbnail’s edge. Knowing what the terms mean: sonobe, icosahedron, kusudama. Folding fervently. Sliding units together. Imbuing lightness with strength. Celebrating the ephemeral. Discovering new shapes, new folds. Noticing what comes naturally to folders. Becoming better versed at beauty and order. Treasuring something for a time, then giving it away. Studying what meets resistance. Never looking at paper the same way again.
And did you know that another word for rustling is susurrus?
Some might say that the first afternoon of 2020 is a time for resolutions. Here’s mine. To get more people to discover the possibilities of this mind-expanding sub-discipline of origami. Yes, this post is quite the start. Next, I’d like to set in motion a demo class-slash-circle for interested parties. Another worthy idea: amassing more chart-style fold-and-assembly how-to photos, unless someone convinces me they’re impossible to follow. And then might anyone persuade me to veer into illustration or video? Also a possibility: attempting to design, from scratch, an original model or unit, but here the bar is sky-high. It may well be I’m just a messenger for the champion-leaguers, not a noteworthy modular origamist in my own right. In fact, until something suggests otherwise, you’ll be wise to file away what I have to say on the subject and click off to follow in the worthy footsteps of Michał Kosmulski, Maria Sinayskaya, and Tomoko Fuse.
That’s all for today. Does this sort of “metaorigami” seem like something you might be interested in exploring more deeply? If you look closely and read carefully, you’ll find yourself armed with instructions and search terms to get you folding boldly in no time.
Or you can wait until I’m signing people up for that class.