My Origami Story

Earlier in the year, while Jonathan Edwards of CA was sending some photos for my Guest Gallery, he wrote to me, “I just now realized that this year is the 20th anniversary of your website and the 10th anniversary of your first book. Congratulations!”. Indeed it was, yet it hadn’t quite crossed my mind till Jonathan pointed it out. So, on this occasion of celebrating two milestones, I thought I will share a bit of my origami story before this special year ends.

My Early Days of Origami

Revisiting my early childhood folds from the late 1960s to early 1970s: water bomb, boat with roof, cootie catcher,
tulip, dart,ship, boat and airplane. How many did you fold?

Like many, I folded traditional origami in early childhood, way back in India, mostly taught by my aunt. As simple as they were, I already had my first lessons in water bomb base, squashing, rabbit ear fold and more, without actually knowing the names. By the time I was 12, my uncle, Bireshwar Mukhopadhyay, had observed my origami interest and bought me my first origami book, My Origami Birds, soon followed by three Robert Harbin books in paperback. He and I would enjoy hours of folding fun from the books.

My first origami books (My Origami Birds and Robert Harbin books), and magazines (BOS Magazines 56-60, 1976).

Polyhedra lamps and hexagonal cushion from smaller hexagons in
my dorm room and home, made well before I found modular origami.

In a couple more years my uncle thought that I should get a bit more involved. He had heard about the British Origami Society and looked into making me a member. Those days BOS membership was by referral only, so he had to track down a member who would be willing to refer me. Remember, there was no internet, so it wasn’t easy and was a trial of patience. All correspondences were by snail mail so it took time. Nevertheless, he managed to find someone to refer me and I became a member of BOS in 1976, though for only a year (resumed decades later), after which the pressures of academics in high school and college took over. These years rolled by without much folding but I did exhibit some early signs of my love for polyhedra and polygons, though not through the medium of origami. The ones I can recall are making some Platonic and Archimedean solid lampshades from heavy card stock and sewing a hexagonal cushion made of smaller hexagons.

Rediscovering Origami

Michael Naughton's Ornamental Star
was my first modular origami.

Fast forward a few years, I had now moved to Oregon, United States for graduate studies, completed my degree and started working in Pittsburgh, PA. In the meantime I had also married, had my first child and was expecting my second, when a friend of mine, Shobha Prabakar, invited me to join lunchtime origami classes at her work conducted on Fridays by her colleague Doug Philips. Fortunately her office was close to mine so one day I was able to make it. Doug taught us the Ornamental Omega Star by Michael Naughton, my first modular ever. I was mesmerized by it and on the way out, Doug invited me to see the origami in his office. My jaw dropped looking at all the beautiful modulars for the first time and he gave me some to take home. This act of kindness was to have a long lasting effect. I studied what I had brought home, unfolded the units and replicated them, enjoying every bit of the experience. Though I never had another chance to go back to Doug’s class, Shobha would often leave with me a single unit she had learned and I wouldn't rest till I completed the models myself. In this way I made the Penultimate Dodecahedron by Robert Neale and the Sonobe Model.

Starting my Website

My first design - Daisy Sonobe Cube, 1997.

This newfound mathematical and structural side of modular origami rekindled my passion for the art, and soon I started making variations of existing designs or creating new ones. My very first design was the Daisy Sonobe Cube which was just a Sonobe variation. I had a flurry of other Sonobe variations that followed as well as new designs, and I was eager to share them with other origami enthusiasts. There was no social media then, so in 1997 I created my first website on GeoCities (it later became Yahoo Geocities and now no more), to not only showcase my work but equally to have an exercise in self-taught HTML. Little did I know then that this was to be something long lasting. Digital cameras were not commonplace at that time, so a lot of the photos were scans of printed ones or scans of the 3D models placed on a flatbed scanner covered in a black box. The website then moved to another host for a few years but has been on the origamee.net domain since 2006. origami.net was taken so I concocted origamee from origami + Meenakshi. Along with photo galleries I posted free origami instructions every now and then.

Being Noticed

Creating my website led to being noticed and corresponding with people around the world. I remember having regular discussions about the latest and greatest modular designs with an e-friend, Rosalinda Sanchez of Arizona, who had found me through my website. The discussions definitely were like a catalyst for my increased interest in modular origami. Between 2001-2004 I was contacted by Scaffold Origami, Centro Diffusione Origami, and Reader's Digest (Australia and New Zealand) to publish instructions or photos of my designs. In the meantime, I had also created a bunch of Palnar designs inspired by Tung Ken Lam’s WXYZ Module, essentially by adding more planes. David Petty of BOS noticed my work and encouraged me to draw diagrams. He even offered to draw some for me to put in a compilation of Planar models in a BOS booklet. That was the first time someone from an origami society had shown significant interest in my work. I had many pleasant email exchanges with David who was like a mentor, and I regret that he passed away prematurely before I ever had a chance to meet him.

 
My first exhibits, and receiving the Florence Temko Award at PCOC 2005, AZ from OrigamiUSA president Tony Cheng.
In 2005, OrigamiUSA also took notice my work and invited me to attend their annual NY convention to present me with the Florence Temko award. I was overjoyed for the huge honor when I received the email. Since I already had travel plans during the NY convention, Rachel Katz of the awards committee was flexible enough to move the ceremony from NY to PCOC in Arizona later in the year. That was my first origami conference and it was overwhelmingly enjoyable to see so many enthusiasts under one roof and to meet some authors in person, viz., Robert Lang and John Montroll. I wasn’t prepared to teach but made the leap after Ravi Apte encouraged me and though I was nervous, the Daisy Sonobe Cube class went well. People were impressed with my exhibits and they encouraged me to write a book which I had never contemplated doing before. I am so thankful for all the encouragement I received and for the award because it thrust me towards what happened next with my origami endeavour.

Being Published

Book signing at publisher's booth with Robert Lang
after releasing my first book, JMM 2007.

In another year I had a manuscript for my first book Marvelous Modular Origami and began looking for a publisher, which I knew was not easy. I had some kind guidance from Robert Lang and what started out as a skeptical cold search ended in several publishers agreeing to publish my book. Details of my book writing experience can be found in Paper Issue 97, so I am not going to elaborate. For various reasons I decided to go with AKPeters (now CRC Press) as Klaus Peters had the most convincing offer. I will be forever thankful to him for believing in my work and giving me the passport to the published world. I published three books with AKPeters in quick succession. With the advent of the print-on-demand services, I later self-published four more books with CreateSpace. Though the latter method is not without its disadvantages, I went that route because I thought the advantages were far more. I predominantly designed modulars, but I also took a liking towards designing single sheet origami, especially those with color change, and published some of those as well. In all, I have published seven books from 2007 to 2017. I have identified a workflow that makes book writing a little bit easier. I try to regularly contribute my newest designs to various origami magazines and when there is a considerable amount accrued, I start compiling them into a book.

About my Designs

Bird of Paradise Flower, and Peace Lily and leaf, examples of my
single sheet designs. Arrangement by Teresa Montero-Cañibe.

Twenty years ago there were not that many modular designers. My early inspiration came from the works of artists such as Tomoko Fuse, Miyuki Kawamura, Francis Ow, Silvana Mamino, David Mitchell and Kunihiko Kasahara. As for my single sheet designs, many have been inspired by Shuzo Fujimoto and Chris Palmer. People ask me what my design process is but it is quite difficult for me to put my answer into a neat package. In fact, the process may be quite haphazard. Sometimes, I will just be doodling with paper and out comes a design. Sometimes I have the whole thing in my head and it plays out exactly how I had envisioned it. Sometimes some tweaking is required during folding to have a desired outcome. Sometimes I will have to do some downright geometry and trigonometry on a scratchpad to arrive at what I want. Sometimes, ideas will just come in the middle of the night and I cannot sleep till I have tried them. And sometimes they just start out with variations of existing designs.

Conventions and Making Friends

One of my exhibits, Columbine, at Mujeres de Papel, Zaragoza, Spain. PC: Eldiario.

The best part about origami has been making friends all over the world, whether online or in person. It's like you have an international origami family and you look to see if you can meet anyone when you travel, even on other business. I have had the fortune of attending nearly 20 origami conventions in the US and abroad, about half as special guest or featured artist. The highlight of these conventions is making new friends as well as meeting people you are familiar with in cyberspace but have never had the chance to meet. It’s a great feeling to finally see in flesh people you have communicated with, or just people who you have heard of, or authors whose designs you have folded. The connection is immediate and feels complete once you have talked. I try to maintain a comprehensive album of origami people who I have met at conventions or otherwise, though I admit I have missed some. I regret not having a photo with the great Eric Joisel who I met at PCOC 2007 in Vancouver.

I would like to conclude by thanking Jonathan Edwards for reminding me of my special year of milestones, which led me to the writing of this article. Coincidentally, I met the young man for the first time last month at PCOC, Los Angeles. I hope that my origami story has been inspirational and worth a quick read. Now that you have come this far, fold one of my latest, previously unpublished modulars, the Pentas, from photo instructions. They are meant to be more like clues than complete instructions.

-- Meenakshi Mukerji, December 2017.