Presenters

Wendy Zeichner

Wendy Zeichner has served as president of OrigamiUSA since 2008. Through teaching origami models that she and others have designed, Wendy has inspired many novice folders to love origami and fold on a regular basis. She often teaches at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City (home to the OrigamiUSA office). Wendy has also taught at many origami conventions in the USA and internationally in Japan, Korea, Italy, Spain, France, Germany and England.

Wendy recently co-edited a book of Laura Kruskal’s crowns with Patsy Wang-Iverson. This book, Origami Crowns, a collection by Laura Kruskal: Queen of Crowns, is available as a PDF from The Fold, OrigamiUSA’s online magazine.

Xander Perrott

https://www.xanderperrott.com/

Xander Perrott is an origami artist and designer from New Zealand who is currently based in Melbourne. They specialise in geometric modular origami, typically using 30 rectangles to create 3D designs which hold together without the need of any adhesives. The underlying structures are based on Platonic and Archimedean solids with additional decorative features.

Xander's first book, Folded Forms, was self published in 2019 and contains instructions for over 30 of his designs. He is currently hard at work on a second book due to be released in the coming year.

Mariko Miyamoto

https://origami-oriart.com

I have been enjoying origami since I was a little child. Over 30 years ago, I started origami professionally under the guidance from Catholic sister Hisae Tokuno, who was working closely with Ms. Toshie Takahama. My designs range from models that even 2-year-olds can enjoy without difficulty to realistic animals and flowers. I create full-scale animals and flowers made from Japanese Washi paper. In addition, there are works done requested as commission. Published books include books on flowers and accessories. I would like to hand over to children the traditional Japanese origami that has been going on for hundreds of years, and to continue working on the production of Braille origami books.

Jannie van Schuylenburg

My name is Jannie van Schuylenburg, from the Netherlands. I'm married and have 3 children and 3 grandchildren. I love many ways of handcraft, but Origami is my ‘first love’. My aunt was folding with me when I was 6 years old and so started the love for paper and origami. 30 years ago I became an origami teacher. I like teaching origami, and just now with the online posibility it is so great to do. I love design my own models and look what I can do with the paper. Playing with paper is so nice and several of my models are found at that way. But I also like to design what is in my mind and look how I can get there. Over the years there are several books published.

adriano mariani

origami bio
I live in italy, Savona, i'm a professional magician.Two years ago, while i was working on the ship that was cruising around japan i discovered this amazing art. And a year ago i started to create my own models, so i try to keep my personal style and simplycity. In 2020-2021 i've bee published in four different origami magazines. I'm member of CDO Italy.

Melina Yureiko Hermsen

http://www.yureiko.de

I was two years old when my Japanese grandparents and my father started to fold with me. According to my mother my first model was a traditional crane. Since then my mother had always paper with her, so I could fold everywhere.She also folded a lot with me and bought me my first book (Kunihiko Kasahara, Kami to Origami, 1981). In 2008 I started to design my own origami models, mainly tessellations, and viewed origami as a form of art. So nowadays I do a mixture of folding and sculpting.

Shigeru Mitsuda (Tatsumi)

I started taking origami seriously about ten years ago and slowly expanded the collection of own creations. When I became a member of Japan Origami Academic Society (JOAS) in 2019, I started publishing my models. I have been teaching and drawing diagrams also since 2020. My creations are mainly animals and kawaii motifs. It is my joy if my models make people feel cheerful when they see and fold them.

Michelle Fung

http://www.michellefung.net/

I started designing my own origami models in 2010. Out of the many types of origami, I enjoy designing cute (yet often surprisingly complex), color-changed, representational models the most. Visit my website (http://www.michellefung.net/) to see more of my models and where I publish various types of instructions for them, i.e. crease patterns, diagrams, and video tutorials.

Michael LaFosse

http://www.origamido.com

Michael LaFosse has been an origami artist and papermaker for over forty years. He is inspired by nature, studying his subjects in natural habitats. Michael and Richard Alexander co-founded the Origamido Studio, in Massachusetts. They work together to design origami, and to make, custom, archival papers for each creation.

Roman Diaz

As a veterinarian, Roman has a gift for capturing the essence of the animal. In recent years, he also developed a new elegant approach with his folding sequence which bring really fun to fold.
He has published 2 books, #1 Origami for Interpretes and #3 Origami Essence. He has been a special guest for several international origami conventions.

Charlene Morrow

Around 1990, I starting folding from Tomoko Fuse's Unit Origami book - so inspiring! I have continued to immerse myself in geometric and mathematical origami models and ideas. I designed, and for many years taught, an Origami and Geometry workshop for high school students, as well as a semester-long Mathematics and Origami college-level class. I served on the board of OrigamiUSA, including as chair for several years. In 2019 I co-curated a mathematical origami art exhibit at the Museum of Mathematics in Manhattan. I co-organized an exhibit of the work of 23 artists from our local folding group, on display during September 2021, at the Hosmer Gallery (Forbes Library) in Northampton, MA. I love showing off other folders' - and my own - work!

Madonna Yoder

https://gatheringfolds.com

Madonna Yoder is an origami tessellation designer and instructor who has worked to bring tessellations to a larger audience through Gathering Folds full-time since spring 2020. She helps folders who are intimidated by tessellations to learn the basics so they can complete whatever tessellation projects they like. She explains the basic rules and patterns through practical examples and guided exploration to make tessellations both accessible and memorable.

Riccardo Foschi

he is an adjunct professor and research fellow at the University of Bologna, graduated in architecture and specialized in digital visualization. Origami for him is not only a hobby, he studies theoretical applications of origami in architecture industrial design and manufacturing.
He started folding paper at an early age thanks to his mother that asked him to be a test folder of the models she wanted to teach at her students at primary school. He folded every model he liked until 2014 when he started making original models. From that year he kept designing origami until today. He specialized in figurative origami, and his style is based on a careful balance between curve folding shapes and geometrical traditional lines.

Beth Johnson

http://bethjohnsonorigami.com

Beth Johnson is an origami artist from Ann Arbor, Michigan. She has been folding paper for many years, and began designing her own models in 2010. She likes to design representational models, and often incorporates tessellations and other patterns into her creations. She has been a guest of honor at numerous origami conventions worldwide, and received the 2011 Florence Temko Award from Origami USA in recognition of her work. Beth is a full time origami artist who divides her time between teaching, designing, exhibiting and diagramming, and also does volunteer work teaching art and origami in her community.

Linda Mihara

http://www.origamihara.com/

My lifelong love of Origami began when I was 5, learning models from the 2 Origami books published by my Grandfather, Tokinobu Mihara. I am an origami artist, designer, curator, columnist for the Nichibei Weekly, and host of Free Fold Origami Saturdays on Eventbrite. Some of my design projects include origami for TV commercials (Mitsubishi Motors with Robert Lang, Febreze, McDonalds) print ads (Wall Street Journal, SF Chronicle) and visual window displays (Hermes, Saks Fifth Ave). I have curated origami exhibits, both locally and internationally, including co-curating the Origami-Natural World exhibit at the National Museum of Natural History in Taiwan, Taipei. My first love is teaching the art of origami. Let's have some fun!

Glenn Sapaden

Glenn has been an active origami folder and creator for over 30 years. As an attorney, he filled his long hours waiting in courtrooms by folding origami. He specializes in folding dollar bills, and enjoys the challenge of incorporating the dollar’s features (the numbers, George’s portrait, the Great Seal, the eye whorls) into the model’s final design. His models have delighted waiters, cab drivers and hotel staff around the world.

Richard Ellison

Richard is a practicing architect in Atlanta, Georgia who has folded origami as a hobby since childhood. He took a renewed interest in the art about six years ago and self-published a collection of original designs in 2020. He folds and teaches regularly with an online community. Representational models from a single sheet are his favorite genre. He and his wife, Heather, have three school-aged children.

Robert J. Lang

http://langorigami.com

Robert J. Lang has been folding origami for a pretty long time. Along the way he has designed and documented some 800 figures, has his work shown in various museums around the world, and authored, co-authored or edited 21 books on origami and its applications in science and technology. For the last 20 years he has been a full-time origami artist and consultant. His current interests include mathematical algorithms for artistic origami design.

Ayumi Hayatsu

Origami is a part of my life since I was three years old. As Japanese culture, I started folding with my grandma. I mostly taught myself from books by Tomoko Fuse and Makoto Yamaguchi, not knowing I would meet them in the future. After moving to Seattle, I joined the local origami group PAPER (Puget Area Paperfolding Enthusiasts Roundtable). It leaded me to attend OUSA NY conventions and PCOC where I met both of my mentors. I’m a folder who simply enjoy folding and sharing. I especially enjoy sharing origami with children at local museums, festivals, and schools. From the recent opportunity to be a translator at the OUSA online convention, connecting Japanese and the US folders & creators is becoming additional way of enjoying origami.