I have always admired the Japanese people’s love (or does it already border on obsession?) for precision. Even though their art and culture can sometimes be considered ascetic because of the severity of its rules and the traditions that need to be followed (which could be a reflection of the country’s Zen and Shinto belief). Take for example the traditional art of paper-folding called origami. This Japanese art, which literally means to fold (Oru) paper (kami), transforms a simple piece of paper into exquisite works of art. With a few folds here and there, a one-dimensional sheet of paper becomes a delicate swan, a regal lion, or a mythical dragon. The fact that the word “Kami”� is also a homonym for the Japanese word that means spirit or god tells much about this transcendental art. Paper folding becomes a spiritual exercise, a kind of meditation with the hands where you can also contemplate how one form fluidly transforms into another. For me, I see origami as a spiritual experience that is also a delicate form of art, it is rare to see these two worlds meet and as seamlessly as it does in origami. I think Japanese culture has successfully melded spirituality and art in most of its traditional art forms, most especially in origami. It is also typically Japanese that even these traditional arts are being dragged into the 21st century. There is now a new technique called wetfolding where you wet the paper while folding in order to create soft curves as well three dimensional forms.
