Nick Robinson's Blog, page 29

Just call me angel of the paper

We Angel Origami book is out so I’ve set up a facebook page to help promote it, including a set of diagrams for a model of mine that didn’t make the cut – it was all a bit too fiddly. I thought I’d share it, since I’m such an origami angel ;)

 

Envelopeners

That’s the catchy name for a smart little device created by Inventrade International. I don’t think anyone else makes them. Small, safe and highly functional, they cut paper along a folded edge, of any length. I’ve used them for years and passed some round my origami class, who were delighted and promptly asked me to buy some for them. If you buy in real bulk direct, the price is really cheap, but even sold on by the BOS they are only £1.50 (plus P&P).

The knack in using them is to not make the crease to firmly, so the internal knife blade can slide between the layers to do it’s thang. As they get older, they do become less than 0 functional, but I would recommend them to anyone. See a previous post on the subject.

Anyway, they arrived today (just too late for this weeks class) so my students can have their very own BOS branded envelopener!

 

A trunk call….

Another recent Buddhist-themed design of mine, an elephant, more specifically a “Noble” elephant, I also feel it’s more of a baby than an adult. I’ve tried for years to find a decent elephant, whilst trying to avoid cliches (like “turned up tip of the trunk”) and retaining a simple sequence.

Temple Box

Working on designs for “temple boxes” to go with a forthcoming book on origami with a Buddhist theme. Here’s one design I came up with. I doubt it’s highly original, but the joy is in the creating ;)

Going Dutch

I had a great project recently, to design a way of folding the logo of a new drug from an international pharmaceutical company. The logo wasn’t too difficult, but I had to work on the proportions and most importantly, a good sequence, since I was required to fold 300 of them in advance.

This required a double-sided template with the colours and logo in the right place, which was sent to the States for printing. The origami was for a launch event in Amsterdam and I was delighted that they wanted me there to make “gift” fold for delegates. Knowing pitifully little about Holland apart from being the home of; the OSN, of one of my favourite bands (Focus), clogs, cheese and windmills, a visit was long overdue.

Paula & Gerard

There was an opportunity for me to go over early, so I was delighted when my good friend and talented origamist  Paula Versnick offered me hospitality. I flew from Leeds/Bradford for a change, decent price, not too far to reach and with a fraction of the crap usually required to get onto the plane in a big airport. I flew to Schiphol, where Paula’s partner, the charming Gerard, works, so he took me back to their house in Huisen. I spent some time admiring her amazing collection of books and her display cases of delightful models folded by their creators, including a stunning Joisel model. We then finished off the folding of the logos!

Naarden in Holland

I then spend some time exploring the area with Paula as my guide, visiting the amazing geometric village of Naarden (coming from Yorkshire, I found this and several Dutch words to be in fluent Yorkshire!) We had lunch in a windmill, walked round a nature reserve simply teeming with dragonflies and had an excellent pancake inside an ancient Dutch barn.

Yorkshire spoken everywhere

We also went to the centre of Amsterdam, where I was bemused by the volume of bicycles, which were to be seen everywhere. Apparently 50,000 bikes are stolen in Amsterdam every year. They came in all shapes and sizes, some having buckets in front full of children!

Despite having a lane of their own, cyclists rode on the pedestrian path as well and rarely used hand-signals. Scooters and even motor-bikes used the cycle lanes, so there was danger a-plenty, especially for Brits who expect cars to drive on the left hand side. I twice was within an ace of walking in front of a car, having looked right and seen nothing – thanks for saving my life Paula!

We visited Anne Frank’s house, an great flea-market (presents were bought) I made the obligatory visit to the red light area, where there were dozens of hugely UN-erotic “window display girls” situated all around a large church. I walked past (but not into) several weed emporiums, quaintly known here as “coffee bars” and the air around them was positively intoxicating. A fabulous city with so much too offer. I also saw a mouse – where? there on the floor, quite dead. Sadly, it had no clogs on.

folded logos

The job itself was to sit at a table folding models for the delegates as they checked the food out. The tree we had created top hang pledges upon (written on my folded logos) remained bare until we moved it to nearer the refreshment table, after which it positively bloomed. I made a variety of models to hand out and we felt the event had been very successful. Many thanks to Nat Rosen of Impact Unlimited who organised everything with consummate professionalism and made the whole experience an enjoyable one.

a logo-filled tree

Paula having other demands on her time, I also strayed in a hotel, that I had pre-booked online. When we looked at google to check the route, it turned out I had seen a “Hotel Amadeus” in the centre of town, but had actually booked into an identically named hotel in a place called Haarlem, some 20Km out of Amsterdam!

When I finally arrived there in darkness, the owner said he had nearly released my room since the credit card info I gave them had a mistake. Thankfully he had kept it for me, or I would have been in a nightmare situation. A beer and courgette pasta overlooking the river soon calmed my nerves.

Haarlem was a beautiful place, with lots of old architecture, a huge church and an amazingly fresh market on Saturday morning. Inevitably, after several days of striding about the country, I could only walk about for about 3 hours before my legs gave me foot-gyp, so I went back to the airport early and spent a happy few hours watching planes taking off and landing. A short flight time saw the beautiful Yorkshire countryside lit superbly. A tiring but hugely enjoyable experience! Many thanks to Paula and Gerard for their welcome.

Halle-lujah!

My number one Spanish fan (and former lover) Carlos González Santamaría (AKA Halle) has sent this photo of himself with my book in Japan Town, San Fransisco. He bought all 8 copies and recommends you do the same in your local store!

halle for dummies

Bad news for chocoholic paperfolders!

Wayne has alerted me to a perfectly good excuse to buy (and eat) more chocolate – Cadbury’s “Freddo” multi-pack choc sweets have origami diagrams on the wrapper! There’s no credit, but it’s a job I’d have certainly taken on, for a suitable, edible remuneration! All chocolate manufacturers please take note for future similar projects! Now to do some more “research” to ensure I have a complete collection ;)

It’s Gonna Take An Airplane

My best seller!

I have a sniff of another book on paper planes, so would like any suggestions you have for lesser-known designs.

They can be from a square, or a US rectangle and can by hoops, spinners, planes, gliders, you name it!

This is a possible chance for eternal glory – don’t miss out!

Inspiration or litigation?

Jennifer Linderman contacted me on FB with a question – I thought I’d share this and my answer, in the best Listeriine tradition!

Hi Nick! I have an Origami copyright/design question. Last year when we had our Christmas Origami design competition I designed an model. Am I considered the original designer of this model and any derivative of this model would still require that I receive credit for the design? According to Robert Lang’s site he says: a modification of a creative work is considered a derivative work and the original composer retains rights in the work. Can you please clarify the rights regarding an Origami design/model? Thank you for your time.

Dear Jennifer,

There’s no simple answer. Yes, knowingly derivative users should contact & credit you, but that’s assuming a) they’d seen your design and b) they created theirs afterwards. The chance that it was created independantly still exists and whilst we like to think our designs are unique and seen world-wide, it’s unlikely to be so!

If I come up with a model that seems original to me, I always try to find if someone else got there first – I have a few contacts who are extremely well-versed in origami who can usually confirm or refute the originality. In the end, it’s just pot-luck whether you find a matching design, even if it’s out there. Then comes the issue of “what differences are there” and whether these differences are significant enough to give the design some credibility as new work.

Sometimes I see a model, like the concept and use it as inspiration for a totally different model – it’s impossible to say at what point it becomes original, if ever. All you have in the end are your contacts and your own sense of morals. As I’ve said before, we stand on the shoulders of giants every time we being a new design. I seen “my” designs rediscovered many times, I generally wish them the best of luck in their creative path. What else can you realistically do?

However, even if they did “borrow” work, they can still just thumb their nose at you. There is little, if any, legal precedent for this and the law will vary from country to country. Even Lang’s recent case, whilst it could be viewed as successful in many ways, was settled out of court.

You buddha believe it!

Working hard to agree the models to go in a forthcoming book with a Buddhist theme. The publisher has sent a list of the required models, I’m sending images of models until they are agreed upon. One subject was the “face of buddha”. Whilst I simply love Giang Dinh‘s stunning mask, we agreed it was beyond the technical scope of most folders (myself probably included!) so we needed something that used a more traditional approach. I liked the look of Fuse’s model, and used that as inspiration for a design of my own, shown below.