Paper Work

“In 2001,when the blind Japanese origamist,the late Saburo Kase,came to India,Delhi wasn’t part of his itinerary because there was no origami culture here,” reminisces origami artist and club founder Hitomi Ashta,who moved from Japan to India in 1999. “Kase went straight to Mumbai which has a major origami club called Mitra. An origamist all my life,I was determined to start a club here to bring together lovers of the craft.” It took her eight long years to have a proper club.

For the past two years,groups of origamists — mostly women,several of them Japanese — used to gather at the Japan Foundation at Lajpat Nagar to discuss their latest creations and try their hands at complicated designs. Earlier this month,the club was finally formalised with 25 members,from schoolboys to 78-year-old Dr Sumedha Taneja,a retired paediatric surgeon,who has been learning the craft for a year. The club has attracted seasoned origamists like 41-year-old Japanese Sayuri Doi and new hands like IT professional Vivek Agarwal,31. The group has two Koreans,a Tajik and six Japanese,apart from Indians.

“It keeps my hands and mind active,” says Taneja,showing off a series of invitation cards she has made for her granddaughter’s birthday,each one adorned with a simple origami figure that children can pluck out and play with. On another table,Agarwal is teaching how to make a pineapple. “There’s something addictive about origami. I have been at it for only a few months,but I’m hooked,” he says.

Doi,meanwhile,shares paper-folding tricks with a curious group of newbies and jokes now they should teach her Hindi. Yukiko Ikeda,38,a former schoolteacher,says: “I’ve been doing this for 35 years but in India origami is also a starting point for explaining Japanese culture to others.”

Wednesdays now end with an array of wall-hangings embellished with sequins,jewellery boxes and cranes,an important bird in Japanese culture. Who says paper pushers cannot have fun?

The annual membership fee is Rs 500. Contact Japan Foundation at 26442967.