Do Origami designers want to be credited and published?

General discussion about Origami, Papers, Diagramming, ...
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BillieFingers
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Do Origami designers want to be credited and published?

Post by BillieFingers »

So As some of you may have noticed I've been on here scrounging for information as I'm working with a magazine publisher in the UK to put out a book of Traditional origami for beginners. I somewhat guiltily, am not the best origami folder in the world, nor have I ever came up with original origami models. But I love origami and the publisher wanted to promote the therapeutic side of folding which is something I strongly agree with.

We had the first photoshoots last week and it was a long couple of days, there's one more day tomorrow. And then my part will be over. In this project I've found it next to impossible to get replies from any distinguished origami designers. And it wasn't only me getting intouch, the publisher got in touch after I found the contact details and zero replies. Others actually requested they not be contacted because they were so scorn over their work being used without permission they'd turn away someone actually offering to credit and pay them, which as a self employed maker of things, I understand the upset but it seems like cutting ones nose to spite their face?

It leads me to wonder, when you put one of your original designs out there with Diagrams, what are you hoping for? Is it that you want to share your knowledge with other folders? Is it that you want credit for something you've created, or are you hoping to make a career out of what you're doing? If so, do you like the idea of being published? Or is that not a viable way of paying the bills?

Incidentally my favourite and best diagrammed book in my collection is Steve and Megumi Biddle's Step By Step origami 1991. It holds fond memories of my Dad working through the models with me when I was only 10 years old.
Augustus Agamemnon
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Re: Do Origami designers want to be credited and published?

Post by Augustus Agamemnon »

I am certain that it is much more than just credit and money...
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Gerardo
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Re: Do Origami designers want to be credited and published?

Post by Gerardo »

Sorry to hear about the difficulties you've found. Your questions are quite interesting. In my case, the main reasons to put diagrams of my own models out there are answered with your first two questions: To share the knowledge with others and also to be credited for them. I'm not hoping to make a career as an origamist; the reason being how inmensely difficult it seems to be, but it would be cool if I accomplished it. Being that the case, getting published is a great thing for me, not expecting that that would be enough to pay the bills.

Origami books are awesome!
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My awesome website: https://www.neorigami.com
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dinogami
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Re: Do Origami designers want to be credited and published?

Post by dinogami »

BillieFingers wrote:So As some of you may have noticed I've been on here scrounging for information as I'm working with a magazine publisher in the UK to put out a book of Traditional origami for beginners. ... I've found it next to impossible to get replies from any distinguished origami designers. ... It leads me to wonder, when you put one of your original designs out there with Diagrams, what are you hoping for?
I'm sorry, but your message is confusing. If you're putting out a book of traditional models--flapping crane, inflatable frog, waterbomb, etc., none of which have copyright issues of which I'm aware--why do you need to be in contact with "distinguished" designers? You mention "traditional" origami, and then switch to "original designs"--the two are mutually exclusive: you either want original models, or you want traditional models (or you want to mix both in the book), but it's not clear from your message what you are seeking. From some of your other posts that I've seen, I suspect you are seeking original models, which, yes, would require permission from their creators to publish, but please let us know if that's incorrect.

I'm hardly a "distinguished" (or prolific) designer, but certainly if you wanted to publish one of my own creations, I would want credit in the publication (and I'd love a copy of the publication itself). Payment would be nice, but for me personally would not be required; I can't speak to what anyone else would expect. I just want to share my designs and hope they are fun and interesting for others. There aren't many origamists out there that make a living doing origami, and none of which I'm aware that make a living just from their publications (as opposed to doing commissioned work). Origami books have such a small market overall compared to other books (even other crafts books) that I don't know that making a living off of them alone is possible. It might be a nice supplementary income, but I seriously doubt that it's a primary income for anyone (though I'd be happy to be proven wrong on that!).

I don't know why your attempts to contact various designers have fallen on deaf ears; given the general sense of community among folders, I am a little surprised you haven't had any returned communications. But depending on several variables, people may not have been able to participate. It could be that the time frame in which you needed something is too short for them to generate anything, such as decent diagrams. It could be that the works you wanted to publish are already copyrighted elsewhere by a different publisher (if the folder isn't the copyright holder her/himself), in which case re-publishing diagrams would have to be up to the copyright holding publisher, not the folder. It could be that they were unclear on what you wanted. It could be a combination of factors. I agree it'd be nice to have gotten even a rejection--something by way of communication; I'm not trying to excuse anyone, merely hypothesize some potential reasons for a lack of participation.
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Kundalini
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Re: Do Origami designers want to be credited and published?

Post by Kundalini »

I am a new and young(?) origami designer. I started recently

For me design is fun. I design to share my creation and i would like other folding my model and smiling. I fold with the goal of make others smile.

I am not sure if i want to spread my name and get a credit. For me it would be more fun became famous with a nickname. But at least get the credit is fair, because design is a hard and time consuming activity.

Money? I think you can not live only folding or it will be difficult. Read the life of akira yoshisawa. If someone want to live from origami should have several jobs (sell paper and books)

It pretty weird to me, heard about designers do not help you. This comunity is usually kind and friendly if you are famous maybe you receive to much emails
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ahudson
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Re: Do Origami designers want to be credited and published?

Post by ahudson »

Some publishers insist on exclusive publication rights to any content they include in the book, and that's a dealbreaker for a lot of people. If the publisher was actually offering decent money, there's probably some licensing issues or something.

Of course, it's more likely that your publisher is a cheapskate and didn't actually offer anything significant. Publishers are jerks sometimes.
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