The Origami Forum

The latest origami TV Champion videos are on YouTube, starting here:

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=P3EwXoIemog

It's pretty amazing.

Featuring Naoto Horiguchi, Kyohei Katsuta, Chuya Miyamoto, Takashi Kanazawa, and of course the reigning champ, Satoshi Kamiya.

Horiguchi's hands are shaking...

There's also a short posting with a few more videos of the final round (Miyamoto vs Kamiya) to be found here:

http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=4081

I'm amazed of Miyamoto's work with all those ingenious colour-changes.
The fish is just

Anyone knows if Miyamoto got a blog or a homepage?

Thanks!
yeah.. Miyamoto's lionfish is great...
hehe.. most of them had to get off their chairs and folded on the floor

Awesome!
My mom heard Kamiya talking about the contest when she picked up my book from the Origami House two weeks ago.

Thanks Daydreamer. I was wondering what happened to the impromptu rounds.

And wow at the size paper Kamiya used!

I just wished Kamiya would diagram more models... I would kill for a second book!

So so these origamists design at the spot or do they get preparation to design the models at home?

I believe some stages of the contest are impromptu, but I think the finals always allow the contestants to prepare. There were some pretty bad-A impromptu stages in the previous contests.

Folding underwater was one, blindfolded another.

Obviously the first round in this contest wasn't improvised. And obviously the menu and receipt challenges were. I'm not sure about the second round, but for the finals, I would assume they only get the theme right then. They then have ten hours to fold it. If they happen to already have designed something that fits the theme, then that's helpful, but I think they're supposed to come up with it on the spot.

I don't know if Miyamoto has a website, but I think he posts in the Origami New Generation Boards, with Katsuta Kyohei and Naoto Horiguchi.

Holy cow!

Those videos were amazing! Thanks for sharing the link.

Note, Kamiya do not hesitate use additional "tools", in this case roller bandage. The deprecation of using such tools has no sense.

Ondrej.Cibulka wrote:Note, Kamiya do not hesitate use additional "tools", in this case roller bandage. The deprecation of using such tools has no sense.

Ah, Ondrej, but who said everyone is okay with Kamiya using such tools? When I first found out that Satoshi Kamiya uses PVA (white glue) in shaping his pieces I was totally shocked. I didn't have a problem with it, but it was very strange to learn that that was the case. I had always associated using tools with simplified, and "impure/uninteresting" origami.

Here's the thing though. Plenty of people are not okay with wetfolding or the use of foil-backed paper. I personally am not a fan of wetfolding, but I do still find it acceptable. Wetfolding is just as "impure" as using foil.

Anyhow, the way I see it, glue (this includes methyl-cellulose!) is acceptable for use in display models for stability and keeping layers together and compact. It is not acceptable to use it to glue parts together. Again, it is okay to reinforce the piece, so that it doesn't fall apart in transit. And I am considering modular when say this. Modulars should hold together without glue. However, if they are being handled, it is not unlikely for them to become completely dismantled, so gluing the vertices to prevent this can be acceptable.

What Kamiya does here is bind the legs, so that they will dry in the proper shape and position. This is pretty much just wetfolding with a third hand, as well as a timesaver, so that he could work on folding the other pieces while it dries. I've also used pipe cleaners, string, and aluminum foil to hold parts in place as the piece dries. When I'm impatient, I have used a microwave to do it, but remember, if you do that, use nonmetals to hold it together, like string.

And as for cutting, once the paper ceases to be a convex shape, it ceases to be pure origami.

I never get the hang of pure X impure origami. It is just so different thinking that my mind cannot accepted it, any "pure", "challenge" and similar. Look for example on Nishikawa Seiji insect (some kind of japanese grasshopper, you know): he cut small stripes from the square and use they as antenna. It is very smart and witty and show you, what one can think out. And any talk about purity or impurity is... silly.

It may be a little silly in the grand scheme of things, but it certainly makes sense. An argument against purism is that origami is art, and you should use whatever means you want to to make it look good. Purity makes the work more impressive by imposing limitations on it, and it gives the folder a sense of honor by following the 'rules'. Actually, I am going to stop there before this turns into another purism thread

Think of it this way:

Let's say origami is an art, like painting. A painter uses paint. Gluing stuff onto a painting changes it. This is not to say it's not art, but it is no longer a painting. This is one reason why it's an issue.

Is origami art though?

Yes. I certainly and firmly believe that. What else would it be? In some cases it can be used as a mathematical teaching aid/geometrical study, but it is primarily an art. Is sculpting art? I would say yes, just as I would say origami is also an art.

Also, even though it won't be entirely origami anymore if you use cuts/draw on it/other impure practices, why does that matter?