Some Origami art!

Origami Masters of the Past and Present

There has been many people who have dabbled in the art of paper folding, but few are skilled or creative enough to be called masters at this art.

Akira Yoshizawa: The Original Master

Akira Yoshizawa will always be remembered as the creator of modern origami. His masterpieces have gave birth to new designs and ideas that have been tried out by origami creators from around the world. His diagrams for folding his creations became the outline to origami instruction books for all over the world. He became the 'sensei' (Japanese for teacher) for all modern origami artists. Though, he didn't become an origami master over night.

Yoshizawa was born on March 14th, 1911 in Kaminokawa in the Tochigi Prefecture of Japan. As a young boy he taught himself origami. At the age of 13 he moved to Tokyo to work at a factory. Years later he was promoted to a technical draftsman and taught other workers geometric shapes by using origami models. Awhile later he quit his job to pursue his dream of being an origami artist. For the next few decades he lived in poverty and sold soup condiments to get by, but he got to do his origami everyday and and create thousands of new designs.

Finally at the age of 43 his work was recognized by Asahi Graph Magazine when they commissioned him to make origami models of the zodiac animals. After that his work was featured in other magazines which lead him out of poverty. In 1954 he founded the International Origami Center in Tokyo. His work was displayed at an exhibit at Louvre in 1998, which became known as the largest and most successful origami exhibit to date.

Yoshizawa died on April 14th, 2005 on his 96th birthday. Yoshizawa was definitely the Grandmaster of origami. His work has even inspired Robert J. Lang to take origami to a new level that utilizes its mathematical capabilities and uses it for inventing new things to help the world.



Robert J. Lang: The Origami Scientist

Born in May 1961, Robert J. Lang has always put his creative and practical mind to use. His fascination and creativity lead him to make is own unique style of paper folding that has helped him with complicated real-world problems.

Lang has managed to earn his PhD in Applied physics, land a promising job in NASA's Jet Propulsion lab, and do so much for the scientific and mathematical community while still finding the time to do many things with his origami work. 

His top 3 greatest achievements, so far, have been: helping to produce a new crease pattern for airbags with EASi, a heart support, and a telescope. The crease patterns were a big hit as they made the airbag very small and compact also the design made the airbags very efficient for accident safety. The heart support was made out of mesh wire that was to be folded and then implanted in a congestive heart failure patient. Once inside of the patient it would expand and protect their heart. The telescope was literally Dr.Lang's biggest achievement. He developed a space telescope that was 40 time larger than the Hubble, but it could be collapsible because of his origami designs.

Like these two masters, hopefully in the future more creative and logical minds will be able to use origami to pursue their dreams.       

Origami: Before and After

Origami is known as the paper folding art of Japan that has evolved throughout the years and made itself known as an innovative art.  But do you know where and when Origami first originated? Also how origami has affected our world today? 

The Beginning

Paper first originated in China and around the 6^th century (610 AD) a Buddhist monk named Dokyo brought paper from china to Japan. Origami is believed to have derived from Chinese paper folding known as Zhe Zhi.

During the Heian period (794- 1185) paper was still a rare and expensive material, so it was reserved for Nobility and religious ceremonies. Sometimes, if they were lucky, samurai had origami presents to exchange to one another. During the Edo period paper finally became available to the general public and they could now explore the uses of paper and origami in everyday life. During the Meiji period more than 70 origami designs were created outside of the ceremonially used designs. After the Meiji period origami was pushed back to a child’s pastime as preschool teachers used origami in their teachings.

And Now

It wasn’t until the mid 1900’s adults started to look at origami in a different perspective. Origami artist started to emerge as well as Origami theorists and scientist who started to look at origami with a logical mind. Mathematical, Computational, and Technological origami was thus made.

These logical minds believed that the basics of origami laid out the ground rules for many mathematical equations. These ground rules could then be used to help solve computational problems which then could be applied to technology today. Airbags are an example of these principles at work. They used origami folding to make this large inflatable cushion squeeze into this compact little box. Other small applications of origami in today’s technology include: a soda can made with a light material that is durable thanks to origami indentations in the design, a bottle that is easy to crush because of the spiraling origami patterns on the edge, and of course a map that could be folded to fit your palm, but can easily be opened by the tug of a corner. An invention on a much larger scale would be that of a telescope that is bigger than the space Hubble, but can be compressed into a tiny box.

Origami has opened the eyes of many which have caused research organizations to be established and conference held around the world. Who knows what other possibilities origami has to offer to our world.

May 5th: Origami Cranes' favorite Day

Origami had discreetly made its way into a Japanese national holiday. Every May 5^th, origami cranes mark a symbol of hope for children.

The Beginning

It all started with a girl named Sadako Sasaki. She was born on January 7^th, 1943 during World War II. On August 6^th, 1945 Hiroshima was bombed and Sadako and her family had experienced the shock in their home by Misasa Bridge in Hiroshima. While her father was out to war; she along with her mother and older brother were the only ones in their family that survived the ordeal.

Years passed and Sadako lived a healthy, normal life, until she reached the age of 12. In February 1955 Sadako was admitted into the Hospital and was told that she only had a year left to live because she had leukemia.

Around 5 month after her admittance into the hospital a fellow leukemia patient died. Sadako then decided to start putting her hopes in the thousand paper crane wish. It has said that a person who wishes for something as they fold one thousand paper cranes their wish would come true. Sadako then made it her mission to fold cranes to wish for her health. As time went on Sadako’s health only worsened, so putting her needs aside she started wish for world peace. She finished her thousand cranes and went on to folding more until she died.

At the age of 12 on October 25th, 1955 Sadako died.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial

 

The children in Sadako’s class felt heavy after her death. At first they wanted to make a gravestone for her so they could visit it. Then the idea escalated to a monument in Hiroshima Peace Park to not only commemorate her, but all children whose lives have been affected by atomic bombings.

The class then began fundraising to build this monument. News about it spread throughout Japan and more than 3000 school sent money for their cause. They began building the monument in January 1957. On May 5^th 1958, Japan’s Children’s Day, the monument was completed. It was of Sadako raising a paper crane to the heavens in hopes that no more children will fall victim to atomic bombs. Inscribed on the monument it reads:

“This is our cry

This is our prayer

For building peace in the world.”

From this day on, Paper cranes have been a symbol of Children’s hope for world peace.

Children’s Day, today

Now every Children’s Day thousands of paper cranes not only from around Japan, but from around the world are sent to the Hiroshima Peace Park in hopes that world peace can and will be achieved.