Why I do Origami: Culture I want to create through Origami

1. Introduction

Hello, my name is Tomoaki. I have posted several articles on the Note blog, but in this article I will try to put into words again why I am so passionate about doing and communicating origami.

2. The culture I want to contribute to

In conclusion, I would like to say that I am

1. Create something exciting that many people have imagined for themselves
2. Share how to make them
3. Other people make even better things by arranging the shared methods.

I want to contribute to the culture.

Through the “fun” of creating something from your own image, you not only get the satisfaction of the finished product, but you also learn a great deal that can be applied to design, business, or anywhere else.

Even at this point in time, a variety of wonderful contents and images are being created. I believe that in the future, we will live in a society where everyone produces and consumes without distinction between “consumers” and “producers. However, the road to becoming able to create something truly great will remain long and arduous.

And people are not suited for it. Just as I happened to be suited to origami, someone who was not suited to other things, such as painting or novels, may be able to demonstrate a power in origami that they could never have imagined. I want to make a contribution through origami for someone like that.

I want to realize a world where as many people as possible can learn how to play with origami, overcome the pain of creating things, and live surrounded by the exciting images they have created.

3. What I do to realize the culture I want to create

As it happens, I am fascinated by the “play” of origami. (I will explain more about Origami in the “How I came to do Origami” section below.)

Some of the benefits of Origami are

1. There are many ways to fold things, from simple to complex.
2. It can be done with paper, and it is easy to carry around (since you don’t even need paper).
3. The material of paper is so interesting.

On the other hand, there are some other disadvantages of origami.

1. It is difficult when you try it.
2. It is hard to design your own origami.
3. And it is surprisingly difficult to teach

As I say, I too have encountered the difficulty of Origami many times. However, I have gained philosophical, design, and business insights that I can apply to my life, and I am now able to create beautiful forms that I am satisfied with.

I would like to share the “serious way to play” of origami, which I have developed after overcoming many such obstacles, as a first step toward realizing the culture I want to create.

02, 26, 2023 Tomoaki Hamanaka

4. Miscellaneous: How I came to do Origami

This is an old story, but ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated with “making some pleasing shape. The earliest memories I can recall are of making a house in kindergarten out of blocks as big as I was tall, and of making shiny mud dumplings out of dirt in the sandbox.

The feeling of the blocks fitting perfectly into the shape I had in mind and the feeling that the more time and effort I put into it, the more beautiful it became remained strong in my memory.

I had been doing origami as much as anyone else since I was in kindergarten, but it was an origami piece I saw at a junior high school festival when I was in elementary school that made me want to master origami.

I remember thinking, “This is amazing,” and at the same time, “I can do this,” to put it bluntly. It was totally intuitive, but from that time to the present, I have always had the feeling that I could somehow do origami.

I am glad that I didn’t give up from the beginning when I saw the completed beauty like Mr. Satoshi Kamiya’s work (thanks! my seniors at the junior high school) I think that the trigger is a surprisingly small thing.