Govind S. Kurup carefully folded the paper twice, gave it a twist here and there and then folded it several times. A few minutes later what emerged were paper cranes, frogs and flapping birds.
For Govind and his friend S. Deepak, 12th standard students at Christ Nagar Higher Secondary School here, introducing origami, the Japanese art of folding paper, was the best way they could represent their selected country, Japan, Confluence 2012, an annual science fest. Govind has been learning the art from the fourth standard and his expertise is visible in the miniature cranes that he has made.
“I happened to see a friend make a similar crane and then with the help of the Internet and YouTube videos, I started practising on ordinary paper,” said Govind, whose next target is to make the origami dragon.
From Japan
Origami, in which a flat sheet of paper is finished into a figure without using any cuts or gum, was popularised outside Japan in the early 1990s and since then, it has evolved into a popular art form.
While Deepak used newspapers to make his initial cranes, he can now create many 3-D origami figures with 484 formations, which uses 484 paper triangles. When asked why these exhibits at Confluence were all done in white paper, Deepak said the actual origami paper was a bit costly.
The tiny paper creatures still attracted many young visitors.
