The three founding members of the school’s new Origami Club — senior Eliza Lin, freshman Cole Kinoshita and sophomore Makela Shen — realized they had the hobby in common when they had a moment to chat in Creative Writing earlier this year. This led them to contact senior Ryan Liang, also an origami enthusiast, to apply to make origami a school club.
In the two months since its inception, the club has around 15-20 members at each meeting.
Officers usually use meetings to teach members how to fold a specific model through a “hands on, follow me tutorial,” where members follow along during instruction, Lin said. Occasionally, they devote time to learning folding techniques or origami history as well.
The group hosted an event in the quad on Oct. 2 teaching students how to make paper falcons and doves. Lin said it attracted many beginners, aligning with the club’s mission.
“I have a lot of friends who have expressed that they don’t know where to start with origami or they think that they’re not good enough,” Lin said. “We wanted to make an environment where complete beginners are welcome and don’t worry about being less skilled than others.”
The officers also hope to host a charity event completing the Japanese practice of senbazuru for hospitals, senior homes and other centers that accept origami donations. Senbazuru is the tradition of making 1,000 paper cranes, thought to bring health and long life.
Along with their school venture, the officers pursue origami in their free time and bring years of experience to the club.
Liang, who manages an Instagram account with over 1,000 followers, has been folding for 5 years. He posts folded origami of complicated designs requiring larger papers on his account and creates original designs which he posts on Ko-fi, a platform for creators and artists to sell products.
For her part, Lin began practicing origami in 2021 and is completely self-taught.
“What drew me into origami was that to create this form of art, you literally only need a blank piece of paper,” Lin said. “It’s not like you need expensive paints or oil pastels. It’s just paper.”
