Freising 2010

Update: Pictures of the convention at origami-treffen.de!

Last night I got back from the 2010 Freising origami meeting. What a great event!

I've posted some pictures of the display areas at http://www.happyfold..., and more stuff will be added some time later.

I had a great time. The "weekend" started off on Thursday, where I attended a workshop with Ramin Razani. It was really interesting and fun, and I think all the participants had sore eyes and hands after the 5 or so hours of cutting models. I also took the opportunity to ask Ramin whether he'd allow me to make a video on how to cut one of his designs, and he agreed! It'll probably be another couple of months before I am up to the task, but I'm very excited already. And hopefully some of you out there are, too!

On Thursday night Dave's and Assia's exhibition was opened, and the models are superb. This was also my first visit to the Origami Galerie, and Paulo Mulatinho and Silke Schröder are doing a fine job indeed. The origami work is presented beautifully, and is definitely a statement on origami being art. I will be posting pictures of the exhibition and an interview with Dave soonish, hopefully in a week or so. But if you're in the Munich area, you should try and go for yourself. Dave and Assia's work is on display until the end of July 2010, and after that there will surely be some other superb work presented. And if you're interested in hard-to-get books and high-quality paper, this is also a superb place to go.

Friday through Saturday the origami craziness truly began. There were about 100 attendees, and it was a fantastic crowd. I have to admit I didn't fold that much, and only attended a couple of workshops. It was simply too tempting to talk to people. After all, I can fold at home, but those great people aren't (usually) at my house. I also gave a workshop on the Hydrangea by Shuzo Fujimoto. I hadn't really decided on a model to teach when I arrived, but it quickly crystallized that there was big interest for the Hydrangea. The workshop went really well, mostly because I had superb "students", who payed close attention to my ramblings throughout.
There were quite a few notable designers present, too. Dave and Assia were obviously there, and I really enjoyed catching up with Dave, and getting to know Assia better. She showed me how to fold her beautiful daffodil, which I immediately fell in love with when I saw it in the exhibition. A surprise guest was Robert Lang, who flew over from Aachen. Again, it was great to talk to him and hear some of his thoughts on stuff that was running through my mind concerning origami. Paolo Bascetta and Ramin Razani fought a fight over who was the most beautiful Italian (results still pending), and Paolo fooled around a lot in general. He's a superb guy, him and Alain Georgeot really livened up everybody with their joyful spirit. Tomoko Fuse and her husband, Taro Toriumi, also honoured us with their presence. I asked Tomoko how she felt about me possibly making an instructional video for one of her models, and gave her my contact details so she could get back to me. Surprisingly, she gave me a positive answer right the next day. This means I'll be presenting one of her models! Now I'll only have to decide which one - there's so many superb ones to pick from.
I also caught up with Stephan Weber, Herman van Goubergen, Heinz Stobl, and many many others. Most importantly, I had great conversations with people I appreciate, whether they are widely known in the origami community or not. I was also surprised that some people were excited to meet me, and commented on my video work. It seems I'm somewhat known now in the origami community, too. That's a strange feeling to have.

In the end the 4 days were over much too quickly, and I enjoyed them thoroughly. This experience lived from the people - not only those attending, but also those that did such a great job in organizing it and making it what it turned out to be. Thank you for the time and hard work you put into making it possible.

-- Sara