GO AHEAD, NOW BE A PAPER TIGER!
More people today are using their creativity to make dragons, swans, planes and more, with the Japanese craft of origami
The next time you have a sheet of paper in front of you, don’t just scribble on it or throw it away. Create a pretty box, owl, tree and more shapes with a little ingenuity of hand. Called origami, it’s a fun craft of folding papers and making something functional and pretty, too! And with folks celebrating World Origami Days till November 11, here’s more on the ‘folding-up’ craft...How it started The Japanese art of ori (folding) and kami (paper), which is over a thousand years old, actually did not start in Japan. It began in China in the first or second century and then spread to Japan sometime during the sixth century. The Samurai were known to exchange gifts with a noshi, which was a paper folded with a strip of dried fish or meat, that was considered a good-luck token. Also, the Shinto Noblemen would celebrate weddings by wrapping glasses of sake or rice wine in butterfly forms that had been folded to represent the bride and groom. Most origami instructions were passed on by oral tradition. But not just the Japanese, the Moors from Africa also brought paper-folding with them to Spain in the eighth century. They created
geometric figures as their religion prohibited them from creating animal forms. From Spain, it spread to South America. As trade routes were developed, the art of origami was introduced to Europe and later the United States. Since then, origami has been evolving and today, master paper-folders can be found across the world.
Mumbai’s got a few paper transformers Says Himanshu Agrawal of a Mumbai-based origami club. “This is an art that gives life to paper and imagination. Origami is a respected thought…a child-like pleasure and yet not childish,” he states. A voice artiste and copywriter by profession, he started practising the craft when he was 10. “It’s my 23rd year of working with origami; I have three records in it now — tallest origami giraffe (20-ft tall), the longest dinosaur (105 ft) and this year, as it’s the Year of The Dragon, I made a 25-foot creature.” Today, he and 60 others form what they call a “group of origami addicts!” They’re based all over India. “Paper is a very valuable medium; people are discovering it even more,” he adds.
Other benefits of the craft Besides the obvious benefit of satiating one’s creative urge, origami has other uses as well. Apart from enhancing concentration and creativity, paper-folding can help develop subtle skills like patience and spatial visualisation. “The idea is to move away from a craft; people actually express their emotions through it. We all approach this art in different ways: scientific, methodic, purist, artistic. Collectively, we teach each other techniques and models. Individually, we teach ourselves patience. There’s a lot we can do with it. It has been found that children don’t use their hands any more as their attention span is low, and origami increases patience and creativity. It increases hand-toeye co-ordination and helps develop friendships. Not many know that mathematicians too, have used origami to prove many a great theorems. In addition, origami competitions at work places are great stressbusters as they are said to have a soothing effect on the mind. For this reason, the craft has acquired relevance in places like special schools, hospitals and even prisons! Patients become calmer trying to indulge in a happier pursuit,” says the expert
Using it at home Origami works well for children’s rooms, says interior expert Bijal Kothari. “Especially paper planes and animals, people love it. Origami can also be used as a home entrance display or with wind chimes.”
Himanshu Agrawal with his dragon
Is it a bird...a plane? It’s origami!
Origami flowers
Paper swan
A basket for dried plants
A book flower
No comments:
Post a Comment