Yesterday was known as Wednesday. To the depressed worker it is Hump Day. To the Public Zone employee it is Origami Lunch Club Day, and therefore cause for great excitement!

Earlier this week Vix had the bright idea of running a lunchtime origami session for any paper-folding enthusiasts at the agency.  It was partly an idea to expand our creative horizons playing in another medium, partly good old-fashioned fun and mostly because someone gave her an origami dinosaur in the pub and she was very impressed by it.

For our first attempt she settled on making a dinosaur, or Procompsognathus to be exact. It looks a bit like a less terrifying T-Rex.

 

Origami can be done on plain paper but if you visit Muji they do a range of patterned paper sheets which make your creations look a little bit funkier. We decided that patterned paper was the best type to use as plain coloured paper revealed dodgy folds more in the final creation.

 

 

After much diligent folding, a lot of tracing our steps backwards and being helped by the naturally adept Sarah (who discovered her innate aptitude for origami) we each managed to complete a Procompsognathus. Here are the fruits of our labours:

 

 

We compared them and decided that the ones that could stand upright and had good weight distribution and poise (due to the all important clean folding) were the best. The more you rushed the folding (and consequently made mistakes, weakening the structure with unnecessary folds) the poorer your final product. It made us appreciate the fact that we work in a digital medium where the product we work with is virtual and so unaffected by how many times you have to go back to the start!

Here are some pictures of genuinely amazing origami that takes the art to another level.

 

 

 

As you can see we have some way to go, but it’s a start. In honour of the launch of Origami Lunch Club (OLC) here are some tips and facts of the folding variety:

• Origami comes from the Japanese ‘ori’ meaning “folding”, and ‘kami’ meaning “paper”.

• In November 1999, Wings for Peace in Seattle, USA created the world’s largest paper crane as a stunt to raise awareness of their charity. It was over 215 feet wide.

• The smallest origami crane was made by Mr. Naito of Japan. He used progressively smaller and smaller squares until the smallest crane was made from a 0.1 x 0.1 mm square. Naito folded the tiny crane using a microscope and special tools that he made himself.

• When practicing origami you will have to master ‘basic’ folds like valley and mountain folds, pleats, reverse folds, squash folds, and sinks. In this context the word ‘basic’ is rather misleading.

• There is a British Origami Association that has its own bi-monthly magazine.

• A good tip is to be precise and make your folds crisp by running your nail or the back of a spoon over the fold. Above all, be relaxed, take your time and enjoy the process.

 

We enjoyed making our origami dinosaurs so much we’ve decided to make Origami Lunch Club and weekly thing. Watch this space!

 

Tags: Art, Creative, Creative Agency, Creativity, Design, Digital, Dinosaurs, Dragons, Innovation, Inspiration, Japanese, Lunch Club, Materials, Medium, Origami, Playing, Stag Beetles