The Origami Meetup Group in New York, also known as OMG-NYC, has twice weekly and monthly meetings. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday with a monthly third Saturday meeting.
Some facts about us:
- We are folders of all different background and levels.
- 2018 marks our tenth year of existence, and in 2017 we reached the milestone of our 1000th meeting. According to longtime members, we are also one of the oldest Meetup groups in existence. At the time of writing of this article, we number over 1,200 members.
Our 1000th meeting in 2017. Talo Kawasaki, Doug Caine and Linda Yau.
- Origami artist Sok Song re-purposed acronyms for identifying Tuesday and Thursday folding: Tuesday’s groups are WTF (Weekly Tuesday Folders) and Thursday is AWOL (After Work Origami Lovers). I recall one meeting that consisted of a mouthful of acronyms. That meeting was unofficially called OMG-NYC at OWS for WOD. The OWS was Occupy Wall Street and WOD is World Origami Days, so we were at the park folding and handing out origami butterflies.
Meeting prior to the 2014 Origami USA convention.
Assistant organizers generally provide paper for people attending the meeting. So for attendees, there is no need to bring paper. Members are encouraged to bring models to teach, along with books and diagrams.
A monthly folding meeting.
In the past, as a group we have gone on outings together, including folding excursions to Governor’s Island in the summertime, folding challenges, group projects, paper store shopping tours, Howl Festival’s Art Around the Park, as well as non-folding activities such as softball games. We have also recently started to make trips to Philadelphia to fold with the Greater Philadelphia Paper Pholders (GP^3). In turn, we have been visited by folders from other locations, including BOS, the west coast etc.
OMG-NYC has participated in exhibitions for various origami conventions: OrigamiUSA, CenterFold, Origami Heaven and Menerode Netherlands Origami.
OMG-NYC exhibition at OUSA 2017
As an assistant organizer, I have been enriched as a part of OMG-NYC. I folded a little as a child, but stopped and then came back into folding as an adult with the introduction from Nathan Ascher. That was a life changing experience. As the group enters its tenth year, it is my seventh. This group strives to share stories and experiences in person. Living in New York City with everything happening at once, to find a space where there are like-minded people is a positive gem. That is the motto of Meetup: "Getting together with real people in real life makes powerful things happen. Side hustles become careers, ideas become movements, and chance encounters become lifelong connections. Meetup brings people together to create thriving communities." Everyone in this group enjoys the hobby of paper folding. To find a time and space where folding can occur by yourself or beyond a typical monthly meetings makes OMG a great time to fold and gather socially.
A typical WTF meeting. In this photo are Sandra Teng, Philip Jones, and John Young
More information and photos about our meetings can be found on our meetup page.