Akira Yoshizawa Origami Work
He is credited with raising origami from a craft to a living art.
Akira yoshizawa origami work. He served as a bridge between past and present between the ancient traditional craft and the development of origami as a modern practice in terms of inventing new techniques and in preserving the traditional. He also created a system of symbols arrows and notations used to diagram origami designs. In 1937 he left factory work to pursue origami full time.
Master origami artist akira yoshizawa was a true innovator who played a seminal role in the rebirth of origami in the modern world. He invented and perfected the technique of wet folding which allows moist paper to be folded more easily. During the next 20 years he lived in total poverty earning his living by door to door selling of tsukudani a japanese preserved condiment that is usually made of seaweed.
After several years there he was assigned to teach geometry to the junior employees and already having an interest in the traditional japanese craft of paper folding he began to use paper folding to teach geometric concepts. Even if any copies of this book survive it is extremely rare. Yoshizawa used the traditional art of origami to understand and communicate geometrical problems.
Yoshizawa acted as an international cultural ambassador for japan throughout his career. Yoshizawa spent most of his early life toiling in obscurity working labor intensive jobs and expanding his paper folding repertoire as a hobby. The video below looks at the evolution of this art form starting from the pioneering work of akira yoshizawa the father of origami.
Akira yoshizawa was a japanese origamist considered to be the grandmaster of origami. During world war ii akira yoshizawa served in the army medical corps in hong kong. This collection of projects by the father of modern origami contains detailed instructions for 60 of the master s original works.
According to his own estimation made in 1989 he created more than 50 000 models of which only a few hundred designs were presented as diagrams in his 18 books. Akira yoshizawa 1911 2005 is widely regarded as the father of the modern origami art form. He invented the process and techniques of wet folding and set down the initial set of symbols for the standard yoshizawa randlett system that robert harbin and samuel randlett later improved upon.
Akira yoshizawa a master paper folder widely acclaimed as the father of modern origami died on march 14 his 94th birthday at a hospital near his home in ogikubo a suburb of tokyo. Born in 1941 yoshizawa taught himself origami and gave up his factory job at the age of 26 to devote his life to paper folding. Appeared in origami shuko a book published by isao honda.
The work of akira yoshizawa of japan a creator of origami designs and a writer of books on origami inspired a modern renaissance of the craft. In 1983 emperor hirohito awarded him the order of the rising sun 5th class one of the highest. Collection of interesting origami japanese paper folding art created by akira yoshzawa.
