Origami: A single piece of paper opens infinite horizons

Posted on 26 May 2021

The wonderful world of an ancient Japanese art form at York Festival of Ideas 2021

Megumi Bailey and Géraldine Enjelvin (Department of Language and Linguistic Science) are participating in the online version of this year’s York Festival of Ideas 2021 (8 - 20 June 2021) offering an activity entitled ‘Origami: A single piece of paper opens infinite horizons’.

This is a follow up on the interactive workshop ‘Discover the wonderful world of kamishibai’ previously run by Megumi and Géraldine in the 2019 edition of the festival. The workshop focused primarily on kamishibai, a centuries-old Japanese storytelling tradition that combines hand-drawn visuals with performance.

The Japanese theme continues in this year’s York Festival of Ideas with ‘Origami: A single piece of paper opens infinite horizons’. School children taking part in this activity will be invited to watch a video focusing on ‘The Paper Boat’, a Chinese story based on origami, and then they will be introduced to a video tutorial on the ancient Japanese art form of origami. Children will be given guidance on how to make origami figures (beginner’s, intermediate and advanced level) and then they will be invited to share on a digital platform stories that they created with their own origami.

"The interesting and fascinating nature of Origami is that you can create a number of different shapes and figures from a simple flat sheet. It is amazing to find out some of the applications in Engineering as well!" - Megumi Bailey, Dept. Language and Linguistic Science

"Reading stories is an escape from the outside world. Everyone needs a little of that sometimes. I know I do! The York Festival of Ideas enabled me to share this passion of mine." - Géraldine Enjelvin, Dept. Language and Linguistic Science

To read more about this and to watch the videos: York Festival of Ideas 2021 - Origami: A single piece of paper opens infinite horizons

If you like to try yourself and incorporate origami techniques into Kamishibai story-telling: World Kamishibai Forum

To find more activities for children: York Festivals of Ideas 2021 Fun for Families