Where it all starts

Someone asked me the other day how I got started collecting origami. They saw all my pieces lined up on my bookshelves and windows, and was rather curious as to why.

It made me really think about it, because to be honest, I'm not really sure. I guess it started as a bit of a thing when I was a kid. During big family meals, like on Thanksgiving and Christmas, we'd use these fancy napkins that were about twice as big as normal. Down near the kids' table, we'd have the luxury of *huge* paper napkins, since as a kid, everything seems bigger. One day, my grandmother sat down with us. She took a napkin, folded from corner to corner, and then the other corner-to-corner. She then delicately drew each edge to the center-point, folding them inwards. "Flip," she said, and turned the square shape over. Then she'd fold the edges into the center again. "Flip," she said – big grin on her face, as all of us kids were enchanted – and folded the edges to the center again. Lastly, she drew out the four folds at the top, and lo and behold, my grandmother had made a lotus origami. To please use further, she picked up my glass and put it in the center of the 'petals'. It was now my coaster.

Later in life, I would forget that moment, but now it seems obvious to me that my obsession started the moment the glass touched the origami.

At school, at home, wherever there was scrap paper, I would twist, turn, fold, pleat, until I had made something. Nothing of any particular recognizable shape, like some sort of abstract fine art, but I had made something.

Finally, one of my friends dragged me to an exhibition of origami. It was amazing! There were modules and folds that I'd never seen before – and before my very eyes, one of the largest collections of paper hats I'd ever seen. A whole bunch of schoolkids had come and made their own hats, and here they were, up for display. It occurred to me somewhere that this was the fun-est thing I'd ever been to. And as we were leaving, my friend bought me a short book on origami.

That was it. I was hooked.

Since then I've been collecting origami that people have made or discarded (you'd be surprised at what people drop on the streets!), as well as making my own. There's a range of difficulty to origami which makes it ideal for 'coffee break' games. There's a reason why this stuff began in Japan. It's very zen!

I know this blog is very new, but if there's any collector out there reading it, I'd love to hear your story of how you got started! I find the whole 'origin' story very interesting, and I'm sure others do to: add your story to the comments!