hurrengoa
origami odlok   The word means fold (oru) paper (kami) in Japanese. The folded paper bird has become a symbol of time-wasting but there’s quite a bit of enriching artistry there in amongst the feathers. Anyway, we like the idea of wasting time, so for when you get bored with looking at the clock on the office wall or porn videos on the computer, we’re going to introduce to a neat little pastime that will keep your hands busy. The next time your boss accuses of wasting time, you can kindly inform him of the following. No-one knows just when origami was invented exactly. But seeing as the Chinese Tsai Lun is credited with inventing paper in the year 105 BC, he’s awarded the title of first paper folder. Buddhist monks brought paper to Japan in the sixth century. Since it was invented, paper has been a highly prized object and work tool in the land of Shin Chan. Paper is a major part of everyday life. You wouldn’t be able to understand Japanese architecture without wood and paper, for example.
Long ago, Shinto monks got village women to make little paper sculptures to adorn their religious ceremonies. It very quickly developed as an art form. The word kami, apart from meaning paper, is also used to name the spirit of the gods. However, as an ancient art form, there were no published diagrams or instructions until 1797. Until then, the art of folding paper was carried out by women, and as women didn’t have the chance to write anything down, mothers taught their daughters the art by word of mouth.
The art of folding paper started in the land of the rising sun, but in the twelfth century, and on the other side of the world on the Iberian Peninsula, the Arabs developed new and different textures of paper. As the Muslim religion does not allow any images of their god to be drawn, the paper was used for other things. For the teaching and developing of mathematics. When they left the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish carried on with their studies and they also developed a paper folding art form they called papiroflexia (paper-folding).
Contemporary origami is deeply in depth to the master Akira Yoshizawa. He started work investigating and creating origami in 1950 and he has published and distributed his work and findings ever since. As well as telling us the history of origami and ancient origami works of art, he has taken paper folding to a new dimension by seeking out new textures of paper, by developing the wet paper technique and by coming up with innovative and contemporary shapes and sculptures.
If your boss sees you making paper birds or planes or if he catches you with your little paper fold with the drugs you have left over from the weekend... well, you know what the story is... you’re not wasting time... you’re getting in touch with kami thanks to an ancient art form.

look for instructions inside the issue!