International Collegiate Origami Association (ICOA)

Have you seen t-shirts with ICOA on the front and wondered what it represented?

Publicizing ICOA.
Left photo, L to R: Robert J. Lang, Patsy Wang-Iverson, Adrienne Sack; right photo: Kade Chan

Under the auspices of the Japanese Origami Academic Society (JOAS), I founded ICOA–International Collegiate Origami Association–in May, 2015. It is a branch organization of JOAS established to support long-standing international activities of college-level origami groups all over the world. It is open to all college undergraduates and graduate students, who can join as individuals.

In August, 2015, ICOA held its first exhibition at Toyo University in conjunction with the 21st Origami Tanteidan Convention. It was quickly followed in November, 2015 by the second ICOA exhibition in Kanazawa at the time of the 2015 JAIST symposium and the 3rd ICOA exhibition in Nagoya at the time of the 10th Origami Tanteidan Nagoya Convention.

In 2016, ICOA exhibited at the 22nd Origami Tanteidan Convention (12-14 August), at the Seoul Event at the Korea Creative Content Agency Contents Media Laboratory (23-25 August), and at the Saga Event, at The Saga University Art Museum (14-30 October).

How can one join ICOA?

Qualifications: The applicant currently must be a college undergraduate or graduate student. One can become a member simply by participating in ICOA activities, without having to submit models for exhibitions. For those interested in submitting models for future ICOA exhibitions, here are the guidelines.

Applications will be done in two categories: A. The Original Models Section and B. The Etude Section (i.e., Folding Models Created by Somebody Else). The applicant must send the following pieces of information to icoa [at] origami.gr.jp.

A. The Original Models Section

Name of the Applicant and Contact Email Address

Name of the college and grade (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, Graduate level)

Title of the model

Size of the model

Indicate how the model will be transported to the exhibition site (In person (on the day of the event), In person (in advance), Mail, Other Carrier)

Please attach a photo of the model to be exhibited to your e-mail.

Do you want the model to be returned after the event? Yes/No

Paper (From an uncut square sheet (size of the sheet), modular (number of modules), composite model, others (the shape of the sheet and the size).

Comments (less than 30 words)

B. The Etude Section

In addition to the information above, the following should be specified in your e-mail:

The creator of the model and its source.

The photo of the model (Must be clear enough so that we can see the whole picture of the model. The file name should be “(Your Name) + (Model)”.)

The Original Models Section models and the Etude Section models will undergo the same screening procedure.

For details, send an e-mail to icoa [at] origami.gr.jp.

Screening Procedure

ICOA accepts all models but may not exhibit all of them. Currently Mr. Naoto Horiguchi (representative of young folders), and I are choosing the models according to the available exhibit space.

The following slide show provides a few models that ICOA members have contributed to the exhibitions: