Being a kid means generally meant playing outside, riding your bike, playing with your toys, and coloring. However, in the Japanese culture, it also includes the art of folding paper; which is known as Origami (Ori means folding and Gami means paper).
Origami is an old form of Japanese art that was documented back in the 17th century but popularized outside of Japan in the 1900s. One of the most famous stories about Origami is Sadako and a Thousand Paper Cranes. It’s about a girl, Sadako living in Hiroshima and dealing with the aftermath of America bombing Hiroshima. She’s dying in the hospital from radiation poisoning and she, like many Japanese people, know of the legend that if you make a thousand paper cranes and hang them up on a piece of string from the ceiling, you can make one wish that will come true. Even to this day, school children make the journey to Hiroshima and put their paper cranes at a site to pay tribute to those who passed away in the bombing.
Origami isn’t just about folding paper into something interesting. It takes quite a bit of discipline to fold paper; to know what size you need, doing folds and then opening up the paper so the creases are there to help guide you in making your creation, making it crisp folds or just a pinch fold, and so on. For those who are truly serious about Origami, there’s an actual tool to help you fold paper more precisely such as a bone folder (looks like a tongue presser but has one slightly pointed end and it’s made of bone).
From personal experience, many people who aren’t oriental find Origami interesting and are surprised at the creations that can be made with paper; but that’s not the case for Ben Friesen. On the popular website called Howcast, Ben Friesen shows viewers how to create things through Origami and hopefully by the name, you can imagine, he is not oriental.
He shows viewers how to make a gift box, strawberry, lily, kusudama, the popular crane, and more.
Friesen not only has his channel on Howcast but he also has his own website where he posts about events and has an Origami studio in Oakland, California where he teaches people the art of folding paper.
The video specifically for the moving lips is a prime example on the discipline required in doing Origami because he shows that pre-folds are needed in order for there to be moving lips as the outcome. However, for those who would like to start doing Origami, a very easy one to do is the cup.
So whether you’re interested in the art itself or just curious on how to make something in Origami, check out Ben’s Howcast channel. He explains how to do Origami in a clear way that everyone can follow!
Get into Origami and get out of the chaos around you!