The Origami Forum

2 'posers to ponder'....


Favourite Folder ?

1, Whose work do you most admire ?

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Major Influence ?

2, Who do you feel has had the biggest impact in the Origami-world ?

i, perhaps because they've popularised/promoted Origami.
ii, or because their work has taken this art-form in a new direction

Perhaps it's difficult to narrow down to just one, from a long list of luminaries, .... but share your thoughts !

1, Whose work do you most admire ?

this question should be extended with the sentence "... and why do you admire him/her most".
In my opinion, John Montroll is the one, that I do most admire. his work is always nice and good to follow. I like folding Montroll stuff, because I understand what he's meaning, and I can follow his instructions. I can fold a couple of montroll models in the time, I would only be able to fold a single one by some other creator.


- Christian

Oh, how like these kinds of questions!

My favorite creators are, at the moment, four:
(*) Shuzo Fujimoto
(*) Philip Shen
(*) Seiji Nishikawa
(*) Hideo Komatsu

Let me explain. Shuzo Fujimoto has an ingenious twist cube, that constitutes my favorite fold of all times. (It has, in my opinion, the best move in origami). And for that alone he stands as one of my favorites. Of course he has done some extensive work on tessellations that I admire. I like his work very much.

Philip Shen creates the kind of stuff I always enjoy folding. You take a piece of paper, add some seemingly unrelated creases, and with a single move (usually) you collapse the whole thing into a beautiful creation (e.g. his five petalled flower). His designs are very special as they take into consideration the limits of paper, and actually use the inherent tension in order to lock.

Seiji Nishikawa's work is very fresh. It is quite different that the rest of the stuff we see today. One only needs to take a look at his marvellous Kangaroo to see what I mean. He is not afraid to take the art into new directions. He also doesn't solely use the 22.5 degree geometry. Recently he started creating with 15 degree geometries. I always enjoy folding his work.

Hideo Komatsu is a paper genius. He knows paper intimately, and most of his models are perfectly folded from Kami. His work features some ingenious locks, and is a joy to fold.

Of course there are other creators whose work I admire greatly.

As to your other question, about who has had the greatest impact on the origami world. This question is hard to answer. I don't think that there is one folder who has had the "greatest impact". I believe that folders such as Yoshizawa, Harbin, Randlett, Oppenheimer, etc. all had great impact on origami as we know it today. One only has to read the history of origami (will David Lister ever publish a book on the subject?) to realize the great contribution of these people to origami.

A different question one might pose is who had the greatest impact not on the origami world, but on oneself. For me this is a far more difficult question. I am constantly learning and evolving. Only recently have I started meeting and talking with other folders. From each such chat I learn a great deal. It fascinates me to hear what other people feel about origami. What do they feel the best part of origami is. What brings them joy. OTOH, I also discuss many facets of origami theory. I met someone at work who was also doing origami, and he just recently started creating. It is fascinating to come by his office and see his work in progress.

My favourite creator are:
1. Kamiya Satoshi------> he is the best,the youngest
2. Hojyo Takashi for his human models
3.Hideo Komatsu
4.Robert Lang
5.Eric Joisel for his Mask models
6.Fumiaki Kawahata
7.Maekawa Jun.

I'm a Buddhist so I'm influenced so much by Hojyo's Buddha models.We the japanese and other Asian have a peacefull place in our hearts for the Buddha.

To hibakotaro : Hey,don't see you recently! Whuz ya doing!
In my opinion,Satoshi and R.Lang are the best.
Dr.Hojyo is only good for the human.
Meguro Toshiyuki is also the one.

Favourite folder? Kasahara. An undisputed genius, whose work embodies supreme mathematical intelligence and (more importantly) artistic sensitivity. Kasahara can express more with a single crease than Robert Lang can with a hundred-odd steps.

Biggest influence? Ummm...on origami as a whole... pass. But on me personally - Paul Jackson and Vincent Floderer. I consider myself to be a paper folder who is striving to become an artist, but these two are artists who happen to work in the medium of paper folding. And between them they have taken origami in a completely new direction, namely crumpling. (Crumpling, how wonderful is crumpling!)

Not far behind these is Nick Robinson, who I feel is (still!) vastly under rated. His insistence on the value of simplicity is a lesson for us all.

And I have to agree with bshuval, who mentioned Philip Shen. The more I fold his work, the more I appreciate his particular genius.

Mark

what`s about akira yoshizawa?!

i think he is really the greatest folder ever

a true artist, not only a mathematical genius.
he is able to freeze the moment of life in his work of art.


thomas.

I would say,
Satoshi Kamiya just by the looks, (Ive never really succesfully folded one of his models but Im trying to get the new book), but, I am curently into more complex origami and am folding from Issei super complex origami and Origami insects one.

I find with John Montroll there are usually a handful of fantastic models in one book while the rest in that book all seem to be rather similar. However his crocodile (from African Animals in Origami) is still on of my favourite models.

Robert Lang's... They are some of the most impressive around. Most of his more recent models are very complex and involve complex collapses and sinks which can get annoying if you do them wrong and then cant do the rest of the model. But, the finish is so good that it makes up for the difficulty.

One that I havent seen on the topic is the creator of http://www.fishgoth.com/origami , this was one of the first origami sites I found and I learnt almost all of my origami from it. His diagrams provide models with nice finishes, and his recent designs are very complex and look fantastic although he hasnt diagrammed them.

Favourite folders: HUGE list:
Shuki Kato, Giangh Dinh, Tuan Nguyen Tu, Tran Trung Hieu, Cuong Hung Nguyen, Trung Thanh Hoang, Leo Lai, Kasahara, Kawasaki, Petr Stuchlý, Satoshi Kamiya, Jon Tucker, Jared Needle, Andrew Hudson, Joseph Wu, Magic Hobo, Rudolfo Rizzo, Brian Chan, Jason Ku, etc., etc..............
Reasons:Different reasons for each, very long.....
EDIT:how can I forget Naoto Horiguchi, Akira Yoshizawa and Naoki Takeda????Naoki's guitarist was the inspiration for my medieval man(which turned out not as good as his guitar girl though, but i'm satisfied with it)

robert lang/satoshi kamiya

Definitely akira yoshizawa. He transformed origami into what we know today giving life. Satoshi kamiya is also great he designs such complicated models but his gift is that they seem alive not just complex. Because with math most anyone can make complex models but few can breath life into them

I think that the person that has had the biggest impact on origami is Lillian Oppenheimer. Her founding of the Origami Center is the defining line between classic and modern origami. She brought origami to everyone, popularized it, and then many people came together to develop ideas that would revolutionize origami design.

As a second place, Yoshiza, Randlett and Harbin developed the diagramming system which was as pivotal to communicating and sharing origami as the musical score is to music. If I had to choose only one though, I would choose Yoshizawa because the identification of the key features (the fundamental folds) to choose symbols for was more important than the symbols themselves.

To summarize, Oppenheimer for founding the Origami Center, followed in a close second to Yoshizawa in his work creating the universal diagram language.

Quentin Trollip for me models are (imo) amazing

i will probably be killed for this but: i don't care for yoshizawa.

there i said it

I can't say there are many folders or their works that I dislike, but these are a few that I especially enjoy/find important and why:

Akira Yoshizawa- His works are very life like, and until I saw his exhibition catalogue book and displays in person at OUSA 2007, I didn't truly appreciate them. The man himself was very interesting, as I gleaned from recollections from folders in his BOS memorial magazine. Also from reading historical documents from the likes of David Lister and Robert Harbin, he was probably the most important folder in modern origami. He's truly one to regard as the grandmaster of origami's reawakening from purely traditional models.

Lillian Oppenheimer- Though she is not remembered for her folded works, the legacy of her works in organizing and linking folders together still stands the test of time. She and her family is responsible for founding origami societies and aiding in promoting origami as an art. Without her, and others from the pre-OUSA era it is likely the origami community wouldn't have taken off as it did.

David Lister- Another who is not specifically know for his folds, his continuing research and writings on origami history is vastly important to the art.

Robert Lang- A leading designer who is responsible for a lot of the technical growth of modern origami, such as Treemaker, along with his publications which are reasonably available. Origami Design Secrets alone is huge addition for would-be technical origami designers, with its many tools and theories.

John Montroll- Another important designer, primarily for his interesting and foldable models, which are widely published. They're a stepping stone for many aspiring origamists.

Joseph Wu- I had always appreciated his works from the first days of having internet and discovering his website, but I gained a new appreciation for his works when I met him at OUSA 2007. Though I only learned two models from him, both demonstrated an interesting use of locking techniques, which I had not seen before. Not only are his works artistic, but they have some technical bits that are unique to his style. I hope that he one day produces a book, or that I have the opportunity to learn from him again in the future.

Satoshi Kamiya- I used to appreciate his works for their complexity, but now I appreciate him for his perception. The way he takes one folded structure and makes it another is interesting and unexpected he also appears to create many wonderful models at the drop of a hat, judging by his TV exploits and photos from Tanteidan convention outings.

Brian Chan- Though I know little about him aside from his designs, his works in metalworking among other art forms and the speed at which he became an origami designer shows he also has great perception and an eye for detail. Those MIT peeps have mad skillz.

Jeremy Schafer- Though I've not heard of him much in recent years, I was inspired by his off-the-wall designs and humor. His entertainment skills are quite impressive, and he adds color to the community like few others can.

Origami Tanteidan- I'd prefer to write individually about the artists and researchers involved in this group, but I think its best described as a whole. They are a unique community of designers and technical thinkers, and much of their work influences a large amount of designers world-wide. Though their publications are primarily in Japanese, it is still possible to grasp their design theory through the diagrams.