reviews – nickorigami

Review: Origami – Volume 1 – Les bases: Le Manuel De Référence by Guillaume Denis

Hardcover: 245 pages Publisher: Eyrolles; French language
ISBN-10: 2212674171 : 29.6 x 2.2 x 21.5 cm

Denis is a long-standing member of the MFPP and has produced many diagrams and cover artwork for their magazine. He co-organised several “Rencontres de Mai” He worked for three years as a technical adviser, diagrammer and researcher for Atlas Editions, who produced a substantial “part-work” series on origami as well as numerous spin-off books from the series. He has drawn upon these 30 years of experience and his considerable passion for the subject to produce this remarkable book, which he has been working on since 2009.

It’s hard to believe, but there have been very few commercial books that offer a sequenced approach to origami techniques. In the main, books are a collection of diagrams, often themed, presented in order of difficulty. Generally, they have an opening chapter covering basic techniques and bases, then it’s straight into the models, which lie within the “simple” category.

Either through his powers of persuasion or an unusually enlightened publisher, Denis has managed to give his book a far more structured form, combining an academic approach with plenty of models if that’s all you’re looking for. I’m honoured to have a design within!

Over 41 “lessons”, this book covers just about everything a beginner could wish to know about the subject, including diagrams, folding, paper, bases, techniques and much more. The key theme is “bases” and all the traditional “ground forms” are present. They are presented in far greater depth than you might expect and are profusely illustrated by hand (in itself, extraordinary in these days of computer) with great clarity and often showing how and where to place your hands when executing certain techniques. If I was picky, I’d say the model for the hands appears to be Rachmaninoff in his later years, but I know from bitter experience how difficult it is to draw hands!

Considerable time and thought has gone into the sequencing of this book and the author presents a wide variety of subjects to illustrate the techniques, most are traditional, but some are less well known and all are elegant. The folding of bases are presented in a variety of alternate ways and wherever a new symbol is introduced, it is given a section explaining it’s use and possible different alternative symbols you might come across. The phrase “volume 1” in the title clearly implies there is more to come, but how many years before volume 2 appears is anyone’s guess.

I’d have to say that this book is a must-have for anyone serious about teaching or learning origami – there are models and ideas that you can use as inspiration and there is plenty to think about to make you a better folder. I wish it was in English, so I could enjoy the nuances of the text, but the ideas are manifest despite the language. 28 euros is a small price to pay, so buy it now!

Review: Air and Space Origami Kit – John Szinger

Boxed kit with 64-page book
Tuttle Publishing ISBN: 9780804849241

This is an 8.5” square box, containing a 6×8” booklet with instructions for 14 projects, 48 double-sided sheets of 15cm origami paper and over 185 stickers with which to decorate your models. The title describes the theme very aptly, you get a variety of rockets & planes, a space shuttle, a space probe, a space pod and others. The stickers are small but cheerful & bright and perfect for decoration.

The paper is a little thin for my taste and you need to look at the graphic contents page to figure out which sheet goes with which model. I’m a little dubious about this, since it in effect removes the choice from the folder, unless of course they decide to fold a model with the “wrong” paper. I’d suggest a 50/50 split of themed and more general paper would be ideal.

The author, John Szinger, is described as “an origami artist, engineer, designer, software developer and musician”. From his website he’s clearly an active designer and origami academic – he is seeking funding for “Foldinator” – a software application for “visualising objects made by the sequential folding of flat sheet materials”. You can check him out at www.zingman.com. The diagrams are clear and whilst the steps are necessarily small due to the format of the book, I can still read them without glasses (currently my test for the scale!)

The models are, in my estimation, perhaps a little too complicated for the beginners market that the packaging indicates as the target, with swivels and reverse-folds galore, but I’m aware there are many teenagers who can fold me under the table these days. There will also be plenty of origami adults who have a lot of fun with this book. Still, I feel the opening model (or two) should be simple and here, the first model has 6 reverse folds on each of 4 flaps.

I hate to moan further, but a UK retail price of £13 seems slightly high for what you get, Tuttle’s own “Complete Origami Kit” contains 2 Books, 96 Papers, 30 Projects and only costs a tenner. But they know their price points better than I do.

Review: The Paper Puzzle Book by Garibi / Goodman / Elran

The Paper Puzzle Book : All You Need is Paper! by Ilan Garibi,‎ David Goodman,‎ Yossi Elran
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company Paperback: 264 pages / 5.9 x 8.3 inches ISBN-10: 9813202416

Books of paper puzzles date back to the 19^th century, when titles such as “101 Things To Do On A Winter’s Evening” were one of the few forms of home entertainment in an era before the internet, CDs, radio, TV, gramophones and so forth. Almost inevitably they included puzzles based around paper. Whilst the times they have a-changed, there is still great fun to be had in playing with paper.

This book brings the concept right up to modern times, with mathematical and geometric explanations for 99 puzzles. The contents include Origami Puzzles, 3D Folding Puzzles, Möbius strips, Sequence Folding, Strips of Paper, Flexagons, Fold and Cut puzzles, “Just Cutting” puzzles, Overlapping Paper Puzzles, More Fun with Paper, origami puzzles, paper toys and even magic.

The three authors met at the Weizmann Institute of Science, during a recreational math, puzzles and games conference. Ilan is well known in the world of origami. David designs and crafts puzzles, mostly out of wood, and runs many puzzle workshops. Yossi is a recreational mathematician, interested in puzzles and the math behind them, and believes that puzzles are an excellent way to stimulate our brains They were all inspired by the great writer, philosopher and puzzler, Martin Gardner. Together, they have developed a naming system for the different kinds of puzzles and mapped out a landscape for ‘paper puzzles’, giving examples in each category.

It’s an ideal book for me, because the puzzles are largely practical in nature rather than academic – you don’t need a qualification in maths to enjoy it. The puzzles are thought-provoking and have an indicated degree of difficulty. Highly recommended!

There is a preview here.

Review: A Thousand Paper Birds by Tor Udall

Published by Bloomsbury Circus

On the surface, this book (Udall’s debut) is about a man called Jonah, trying to come to terms with his grief following the sudden death of his wife. He meets several characters though his time in Kew Gardens, one of whom addresses her own problems through the medium of origami. Whilst a main theme of the book is sadness and loss, but it also shows how the human spirit can rise to find happiness again. The reader is taken on an extraordinary journey and like all good books, things are not as they initially seem.

This is the first novel I have read that integrates origami into the story so effectively and Udall has clearly made a serious study of the subject. On her website, the page of “inspiration” is a montage of images, which include many beautiful models, including those of Robert Lang and Seb Limet. Origami references are scattered throughout the book, even including a quote from Yoshizawa. One chapter includes the building of a “Memory Tree” where people fold cranes and write down things they have lost or found and hang them from a tree.

Peter Engel is acknowledged in the credits for his book “Origami from Angelfish to Zen” as is the classic Hokusai woodprint “A magician turns sheets of paper into birds”, which one of the characters has as a tattoo on her arm. However it’s clear, at least to an origami reader, that Udall has done far more than simply insert references, she understands that folding paper can be a spiritual journey. For example:

“She watches the movement of her hands across the paper, wondering if the real magic of origami is in the doing rather than the end product.”

“Origami has shown her that nothing is set in stone. A bird can be refolded into a boat, a fish, a kimono or any other extravagant vision. At other times it aches to return to its original folds. The paper begins to fray. It tires, it rebels.”

To be clear, this isn’t an origami book, it’s an enchanting story of loss and rebirth. However, if (like me) you see origami as far more than a recreational novelty, you’ll be delighted to see how sensitively our art has been woven into a story.

Origami 2D by Daniela Carboni

Published 2016 by Centro Diffusione Origami 100 Pages, Paperback, in Italian

For many years, the author has been one of my favourite Italian creators, but I suspect she is less well-known outside Italy than she deserves. I place “character” high on my assessment of models and Daniela’s are full of character. Sadly, my Italian is almost non-existent, so I couldn’t follow the introduction, nor the numerous pages of information about the designs. As you can guess, the models are mostly 2D/flat, although some are inescapably in three dimensions!

You get to meet Mr and Mrs. Kami, an Angel and a Devil, a male nd female Alien and a variety of other simply-folded characters. Next are designs such as “Yin & Yang” (very elegantly achieved), the Peace symbol, a “flattened man”, then a series of animals that used a plain square as the basis for their bodies, with appropriate heads poking out. You get the Three Kings and a camel, as well as other festive subjects, around forty models in total.

The A5 booklet is produced by the CDO (Centro Diffusione Origami) and is part of a regular series promoting the work of the many creative folders to be found in Italy. They are to be congratulated for this! Their sparkling website has an English language option, but it looks like you need to be a member to access the shop. www.origami-cdo.it/indexen.html

Paper Life by Laura Rozenberg

Published on Createspace ISBN: 1533312958 106 pages 8.5” x 8.5”

Origami books tend to fall into a few specific categories; the most common being collections of diagrams. Some cover the techniques required for folding and a few focus on the artistic qualities of work by master folders. Here, at long last is a new category, an autobiography of a talented but relatively unknown folder from Buenos Aires in Argentina.

The author is Laura Rozenberg, herself an Argentine, who is a volunteer managing editor for OUSA’s “The Paper” and is in the process of setting up a museum of paper-folding in Uruguay. She is thus perfectly situated to research and write this book.

Montoya (1920-1967) was a recluse who spent her time in her room, obsessively designing and folding new models. Thankfully, she shared these during correspondence with several key figures of the origami world, including Yoshizawa, Harbin, Elias, Oppenheimer and Legman. All of them greatly admired her work and her untimely death at the age of 47 surely robbed the world of a major creative talent. Legman in particular had a close relationship over many years. The book tells her fascinating story with both empathy and objectivity.

The book is beautifully presented and makes us of photos, diagrams and more artistically presented images. It covers Montoya’s life, but also presents it as a fascinating social history. Rozenberg’s researches have unearthed some fascinating archive documents and anyone with the slightest interest in the history of paper-folding will find this utterly fascinating. There are a few diagrams, but this is primarily an academic text, albeit written in a style that younger readers would easily be able to understand. I can easily see how this book would fit into several different areas of an educational curriculum.

I read the book from cover to cover and will undoubtedly do so again. Montoya’s work is graceful and inspiring. You can find a list of her published designs at www.giladorigami.com/origami-database/Ligia Montoya and many diagrams can be found on the “The Origami World of Neal Elias” DVD written by Dave Venables and Marc Cooman (available at www.nickrobinson.info/origami/elias_dvd)

Lacking the economies of scale that commercial publishers can enjoy, the book costs £20 including free delivery and if you have any interest in the history of paper-folding, I urge you to invest in a copy.

Akira Yoshizawa, Japan’s Greatest Origami Master

Tuttle Publishing ISBN: 9784805313930 Hardcover 192 pages

Nui Nui are an Italian based publishers with whom I have authored several books, including one devoted to BOS creators.. Their quality control and graphic style is second to none, so I was delighted to see this title of theirs published in English by Tuttle (who are also re-publishing all Nui Nui titles).

Most of us will own several Yoshizawa titles, but this is an opportunity to buy a serious collection in English. The influence Yoshizawa has had on origami cannot be over-stated. He, almost single-handedly, set the standards for folding and creating, inspiring many of our current creative masters.

The diagrams are from his original books, scanned to a high standard and relaid in a more contemporary style within a 9×12 inches hardback format. Robert Lang supplies a superb introduction to and assessment of his work. There are also many beautiful photos of him and his work. Excellent colour photos give you all the motivation you should need to try them out. This is not to say that you will get anywhere near the standards the Master adhered to. It is common knowledge that whilst technically simple, his work requires a “touch” that few of us possess, no matter how hard we try. You cannot teach “sensitivity”, but only strive to achieve it. In addition, much of his work is “wet-folded”, a technique where you use thicker paper but dampen it, allowing for infinately subtle folding nuances. I’ve used this technique for over 25 years and yet still struggle to get anywhere near the Master’s ability.

Projects include: The Koinobori and the Helmet, Butterflies of Every Kind, Fairy Tale Crowns and Caps, Lion Mask, Tengu Masks, and many more. My personal favourites include Fishes, Tadpole and Fox Mask, but really, there are so many superb designs on display here, showing the full range of subjects he worked with. There is also a useful bibliography at the end.

Worth buying? Silly question really, every serious folder should own this. OK, all the models have been previously published, but to find such a selection in one place, in English (OK, American) is a real joy. Nui Nui are to be congratulated, not least for preparing this book with the full co-operation of Kiyo Yoshizawa, a feat that speaks volumes for their professionalism. Tuttle also deserve plaudits for recognising the value of this book and their efforts with other artists such as Michael LaFosse.

Zen Origami: 20 Modular Forms for Meditation and Calm by Maria Sinayskaya

128 pages Race Point Publishing ISBN-10: 1631061976 16.8 x 23.8 cm

The author is a Russian living in South Africa and for several years I’ve been following her excellent work on goorigami.com and facebook.com/goOrigami (with over 11,000 followers). Some of this success can be attributed to her eye for presentation. Unlike many modular folders, who often post images of dodgily-folded designs lying on their kitchen table, Sinayskaya’s work is immaculately folded and thoughtfully photographed. Every image is a mini work of art. The same holds true for her first professional book, Zen Origami, where she designed the models, drew the diagrams and took the photographs, showing the same level of care and attention and eye for beauty.

The models, which variously utilise square, 2×3 and 3×4 proportioned paper, include a variety of Sonobe-based designs and several “kusudamas”, although no glue is required. The book opens with a few stars and a very elegant 4 sheet “coaster”. As any illustrator will confirm, drawing diagrams for the 3D assembly of a modular is no easy task, but the art here is of top quality and most folders will have no difficulty in following them. Given the plethora of modular designs “out there”, it’s hard to be truly original and I can see echoes of work by Ow and Fuse, but the models as a whole clearly have integrity and it’s clear that Sinayskaya is a gifted designer within the genre.

The beautifully packaged book comes with 400 sheets of gently patterned 7.5cm paper, which is just about OK for simpler designs but will undoubtedly require the eyesight of a hawk to fold the more advanced units with. I advise readers to use larger sheets to learn the skills for modular folding. Some useful modular-specific folding tips are included, as are guides to the underlying geometry of the designs.

So to the concept of the book, the idea that folding modular design can “bring you to a place of serenity”. This is a hot trend in books at the moment and I’m in two minds about it. I had a slight moment of anti-zen trying to extract the book from the tight packaging. Certainly the folding of the units is a repetitive process that can free the mind as you focus on crisp, accurate creases. However, I’m convinced that the assembly can, for most people, be a process fraught with tension and often frustration. That said, it’s true that the concentration required can help other matters to slip to the back of your mind, so I guess it is meditative at the same time.

We should, however, separate the packaging and concept, which are undoubtedly driven by the publisher, from the contents, which are of the highest standards. Sinayskaya has shown herself to be a consummate artist as well as a gifted designer of modular work.

Six Simple Twists by Benjamin DiLeonardo-Parker

CRC Press Softback 118 pages 8”x10” ISBN 978-1-4822-4461-8

The author’s name is new to me, he is a “working origami pattern artist” based in Connecticut who specialises in origami tessellations. I remain to be convinced that the use of the word tessellations in this context isn’t a misnomer, but that’s just a personal bugbear! I’ve been uncertain how to best review the book but have decided to look at it from two perspectives; information and presentation.

Approaching the book as a seasoned folder, it is a through and comprehensive guide to the subject, written with no lack of passion. The contents are exclusively about triangular and hexagonal geometry, which I think misses a trick – the requirements for producing a triangular grid are somewhat higher than that for a square based grid. I feel that beginners might have enjoyed a few “Fujimoto twists” to get them started, given the word “simple” within the title.

Whilst I’m nowhere near expert in this genre, the book appears to be a complete, in-depth study of pleating and twisting. There is a section on designing new tessellations (way over my head) which provides a means for cataloguing and developing designs. As a source of inspiration and information for intelligent and accurate folders, I cannot fault the book. It continues the trend for books that take the subject of paper folding seriously rather than as a compendium of models.

As for presentation, I’m amazed that nobody at CRC put more effort into layout – the diagrams are far too small and could easily have been made larger without affecting pagination. This is tricky material and diagrams should be as easy to read as possible. I’ve had issues of this kind with publishers in the past and you really have to fight to have the information presented as clearly as possible. The “step” photos are not only small, but murky throughout and even a simple photoshop level command could have improved them considerably. The blue and red lines used in the artwork are quite “clunky” and seem to be inconsistent, some red lines have rounded ends, others square, for no apparent reason. I get the impression that CRC just cobbled this together and the input of a talented designer would have made a great difference for a relatively low cost.

So, presentation issues aside, how do I feel about the book? My main problem is the title, which is misleading in the extreme to the general public. An individual twist may be relatively simple, but once you start combining them, complexity increases dramatically. The models all require dedication and technique to produce beautiful results. One of the key skills that beginners lack is generally accuracy, without which, you won’t get far in tessellations! My wife (a non-folder) said “Hey, those look like beautiful models” and had a go. I kept my distance and watched as she failed miserably to make anything and bemoaned “this is NOT simple!” Perhaps not a scientific test, but anyone who is new to origami will seriously struggle with this book. Also, the Amazon price of near £25 seems rather high.

I have a great deal of sympathy for the author, whom I feel has been somewhat let down by the publisher. However, if you’re “into” this type of thing and have any desire to create your own designs (and have good eyesight!) it’s well worth overlooking the presentation issues for the information within.

Post-scriptum
Since I felt this was quite a critical review, it was only fair to run it past the author (whom I didn’t know) for comment. He replied; “I will say that I agree with every point you made, and I don’t feel in any way slighted. I would much prefer you give an honest review rather than a slant. That said, I admit to certain regrets when it comes to layout, but feel as though the information in the crease patterns and text make up for it. This is not a book to be picked up and run through in a quick manner, and it is helpful for a reader to know that going in. Additionally, I am working on a video tutorial series to go along with the book (and generally teach abstract design) which in combination should weather the weaknesses mentioned here. If people have specific questions of how to fold one of the twists, email me brdparker@gmail.com

Cut and Fold Techniques for Pop-Up Designs : Paul Jackson

This book is part of a tetralogy of books written by Jackson for Laurence King Publishing, the others being: Folding Techniques for Designers, Structural Packaging and Cut and Fold Techniques for Promotional Materials.

As you would expect, it follows the same visual style of the others, being an 8.5″ square, devoid of any colour, with 130 pages of content. Having taught folding technology in universities around the world, few other people could bring such a wealth of experience and expertise to the subject.

The key to the books target audience is in the title – “techniques”. This is not a book showing finished pop-up models, whether in the Victorian theatre style or the contemporary work of Reinhart or Pienkowski, but a compendium of techniques that can be combined and adapted to almost any purpose. The techniques involve almost exclusively straight-line cuts and folds, favouring “surface design over complex cutting”, as the publishers explain. No glue is needed! This does limit the subject to what you might call “natural” pop-ups, so there is nothing on multiple layers, floating layers, pull-up planes etc. so cleverly used in modern children’s books.

However, this is not the target market. The book is aimed fair and square at marketing and packaging students and professionals, for whom it will undoubtedly form “required reading”, along with the others in the series. Together, they form a resource that is (to the best of my knowledge) unrivaled in the world of print.

Available for the unusual price of £11.16 on Amazon, it’s not a book for origamists, but it was never intended to be and outside the world of origami, Jackson is far better known as a paper artist rather than a creator of representational models. If you have any interest in folding technology, you should buy them all and there are special offers if you wish to do so.

More information can be found on the publishers’ site, including a link to a series of videos.

nickorigami

my business is folding

Category Archives: reviews