Could the ancient craft of origami be your key to finding calm?
We’ve all tried origami at some point – even if it was a simple paper aeroplane we made as a child. Maybe you were the master of paper fortune tellers, little folded frogs or the iconic Japanese crane.
Pads of brightly coloured square sheets were a delight to hold in small hands and with each decisive fold, turn and tweak, there was a kind of magic in turning 2D to 3D, creating our own little worlds.
Perhaps it’s not surprising that origami played a large part in the invention of kindergartens in the 19th century, as its founder Friedrich Fröbel often used paper-folding to create toys and teaching aids. It seems to have always appealed to the young and the young at heart.
Origami origins
From its origins in Japan or China around a thousand years ago with the advent of paper, the principles of Japanese recreational origami (ceremonial origami – or ‘origata’ – has its own complex conventions) are now used in many modern industries from engineering to medicine. Just think of the expandable origami-inspired stents used in heart surgery. It is a wonder indeed!
The term literally means ‘folding paper’ (from ori meaning ‘folding’, and kami meaning ‘paper’), traditionally with no cuts made or glue applied to perfect or strengthen the final shape. It’s accessible in that sense, too – all you need is a sheet of paper, and good instructions.
Learning the steps for each design requires practice, asking you to slow down and become thoroughly absorbed and happily lost in the process.
Feel like folding flowers? You'll find loads of fun projects to try in our collection of origami flowers!
‘Me time’
“Having been both an avid paper crafter and craft author for over a decade, I've long wondered why I was so attached to crafting with paper,” says Erin Hung, author of Paper Parties, illustrator and workshop facilitator.
“In the beginning I always assumed it was a girlish holdover from childhood, until I realised that even as a child I turned to crafting whenever I felt dysregulated, upset, or needed some ‘me time’.”
Erin revelled in mastering the ancient art of origami, and found it gave her so much more than a paper sculpture at the end of each sitting. “The somatic nature of crafting, folding, creasing, repeating, helped me regulate emotions that I didn't yet have language to express.”
It's a powerful thought and one that resonates with perhaps the most famous origami symbol of all – the paper crane of peace.
Paper cranes
In Japanese culture, the crane was traditionally a symbol of hope as the saying was that anyone who folded a thousand paper cranes would have their wish come true.
In the 1950s, Sadako Sasaki’s wish was to live. After being exposed to radiation from the Hiroshima bomb as a little girl, she developed leukaemia. She and her classmates made many cranes before she died and while their efforts could not extend her life, it moved her community to have a memorial dedicated to her and all child victims of the bomb in the Hiroshima Peace Park. Each year, 10 million cranes are now sent there, a lasting reminder of the power of craft and desire for peace.
“We live so much in our cognitive understanding and sometimes forget that our bodies store wisdom for us, too,” continues Erin. “In that sense, I feel that the crafting movement – and art-making in general – resonates with us in a disordered world where we can feel a little more in control, while carving out a space where we matter, because we can imagine a way forward."
Origami provided the solid foundation of mindful crafting in many of us as children – something we can carry through our lives to make not only greetings, tokens, sculpture or homewares, but a calm space to relax and recharge, and maybe even change the world.
Make your own origami plant pot holder
Project by Esther Thorpe
You will need:
- Paper (terrazzo design available to download and print)
- Scissors or a guillotine
- Glue
- A plant in a pot roughly 9 x 12cm
Step 1
Download the paper, print it and cut it in half, horizontally. With the patterned side facing up fold and unfold vertically, until there are 32 equal sections.
Step 2
Fold and unfold the paper horizontally into four sections.
Step 3
You should now have a grid of pre-creases. Each section of the grid now needs a diagonal fold within it, from corner to corner. Each section has the opposite diagonal to its neighbour. Turn the paper over, so the pattern side is face down on the table.
Step 4
Keep folding and unfolding alternate diagonals until every section is complete.
Step 5
Take the second half of your paper, repeat 1-4 with the diagonal folds in the opposite directions.
Step 6
With both halves, bring together the pre-creases, emphasising the diagonals folding as mountains and the horizontals as valleys.
Step 7
Press the folds together tightly.
Step 8
Glue both ends of the two halves together, to create a doughnut shape.
Step 9
Expand and contract the doughnut structure to carefully place the plant inside.
Discover what's possible with paper in our collection of easy origami for beginners.
Fall in love with folding
Origami is one of those crafts that can look incredibly difficult when you start, but the more that you practice, the more it will make sense. If you're struggling to get perfect folds, try using a ruler to help create a straight line first.
Get organised with origami
Keep you pens in order with our fab DIY origami desktop tidies papercraft project.
