A Book for Latin America

One of the works I was involved this year on the III Chilean International Convention was the edition of the conmemorative book of it. We had a deep debt with many authors who had sent their works for the last year's book and weren't published because the reception was closed and the book was already been printed; several friends from Mexico, Colombia and Bolivia, among other countries.

Our Region does not have enough media nor publications to show and share the enormous work that hundreds of creators do in silence, with remarkable devotion and dedication. We decided then to put an special latin american accent on this year's book, trying to collect a wide number of works from many countries and different levels of hardness. Someway, it went beyond our craziest dreams: More than 40 models, from 11 countries, form th 130 pages of this book, where pressence of Masters Nicolas terry from France, Román Díaz from Uruguay, Daniel Naranjo from Colombia and Fernando Gilgado from Spain honore us far beyond our expectations, setting us a hard mark for next year.

With pride and humility I present here the Index of figures (in spanish), in a way to spread the existence of this beautiful book in which we put so much work and love. I want to highlight specially the gorgeous stars from a great friend and talented friend, since now unplublished: Aldo Marcell from Nicaragua, altogether with the huge group of friends from Colombia who sent us their fantastic models.

We wish this to be a contribution, our contribution, to the latin american bibliography we must build together, which reflects our work and our way, and be a testimony, among others and to History, about the art of paperfolding in our Continent.

Origami at the Edge of the world

Third International Origami Convention on Chile finished las Sunday in the southern town of Purranque and we had an incredible time. Though we were a few less than last year and we missed some deep friends that couldn't make the travel here mostly due to economical reasons everything was perfect and we experienced great moments, an exhibition with a great level, excellent workshops, an amazing book (three clues: Román Díaz, Nicholas Terry and Daniel Naranjo, among 40 other creators from more than 11 countries) and a vast number of moments to share and grow in the origami friendship.

The Exhibition.

Origamists from Chile, Colombia and Argentina arrived to Purranque to show a great group of works from several countries and a great level. Among them were the beautiful collection sent by our friends in Colombia, the works of Patricio Kunz about figures of Kamiya and his own, the modular works of Noelia Avila and Beatriz Gonzalez from Argentina and Chile, the amazing models of Nicolas Gajardo (one of our local credits), which its astonishing Hunter Eagle won the Best Figure's Prize of the Convention, the chilean Fauna models from Miguel Kaiser and many, many others. I humbly presented a large Hojio Takashi's Icarus in Aconcagua paper of 91x91 cm and a Roman Diaz's Unicorn in the same format, altogether with some old foldings.

The Workshops.

The Double Tissue Paper Workshop, given by Miguel Kaiser, the Optimized Box Pleating, from Nico Gajardo, the Flexicube of argentinean Meri Affranchino , Origami in spiral, Noelia's workshop, highlighted between many others with great results. Me, at least this year I could keep my students interested until the end of the class hehehe (excellent students also :) ).

Saturday Night Party.

Just a couple of pictures to you figure out how was it :D ...





The Trip to the National Park and Resrve of Puyehue.

Perhaps the best activity of the Convention. Taking advantage of the proximity with one of the gorgeoust and biodiverse chilean Natural Reserve, the last day of the Weekend we detined to visit the evergreen forests and the astonishing rivers of the southest corners of the world, memories we will carry on our hearts forever.

But beyond all those expriences, again the very best of this meeting were the people, it was a closed and plenty of friendship encounter, which filled up us of strength and enthusiasm for the next challenges and projects we have planned for the next years as an organization. From here I send a deep hug to all of them and wait to meet them again soon, together with the friend that couldn't make it this year.

If you wish, you can see all the pictures I took this year, on this gallery .

Many greetings to all.

Three Days to Grow Up

The Third Chilean Origami Convention is at hand and, as the last year, there will be three intense days of workshops, exposition and meeting of friends. People from Argentina, Peru, Brasil, Central América, maybe Spain, will gather the second weekend of February in the deep south of Chile, in the beautiful and easy town of Purranque on the Xth Region de Los Lagos.

I extend here the invitation to all of you to make the effort of joining this incredible experience. To travel to Chile is as hard as beautiful, but certainly worth of. Last year we shared with Masters Roman Diaz and Heinz Strobl, who made the expo a real luxury; this year the newiwill be the expedition to one of the gorgeust and most diverse Nature Reserve of the country, on the last day; we will lose in secret paths between the Evergreen woods, the hidden lakes and the thermal springs of the National Park Puyehue, at the bottom of the Andes High Mountains.





Visit Origami Chile website to join the Convention, believe me it will be quite and adventure. I'm already preparing my figures and anxiously waiting to February, to met again great friends and new ones, I leave you also the detail of the last day's Nature Raid.

Roman Diaz Design Workshop

Art is a fine dialogging system between humans. Exposing a creation in which has been (deliberately or not) placed a message and a sense, makes the audience to read and translate it into its own coded experience of reality (H. Maturana says the only reality we can be sure is ours, as autopoietic, independent and isolated beings). And one of the most used mechanisms to achieve this dialog is the Representing act, which is the reproduction by a mean (visual, textual, etc) of what can be perceived as real.

In that sense, what calls our attention on a painting of a horse? What tell us that its markings are actually a horse? its standing, its attitude? That make us to remember something of the past? Or its global message, inside an scene? Or maybe its degree of realism and exactitude? What make us to experience the "click" that triggers an emotion? The act of Representing then lies on the deepest places of human’s ways of art.

And Origami is not out of this, when modular and geometric origami talks us about perfect forms, unnatural forms, or remembering the fragility of mortal and organic nature by opposition, the figurative origami exercises the representing of the daily and real nature.

So what's the figurative designer looking for? a living creature? and how does he achieve that? by reproducing an standing or attitude, by the realism or exactitude (as we said before), by any characteristic detail, like the big pincers of the crab, or the sad big eyes of the panda? It is clear to me that there are as many answers as ways to watch and observe the reality, the important thing then is to achieve the dialog. Is also clear that every designer looks for different an own objectives in the time of thinking their figure.

That was what happened in the Design Workshop that the Uruguayan Master Roman Diaz gave on Purranque 2007. The goal: To design a fish. Every attendant defined their own objectives and goals for their figure: that it should be symmetric, that it should stand like it was jumping out of the water, or that it could float for a while on water, or be a goldfish, or swordfish with its spur, etc etc. The next day we discussed about all of this, what objectives were achieved, what had to be abandoned, problems appeared for the type of base chosen for the goal.

It was clear, as Roma says in his blog entry, that experience played a fundamental part on the results obtained, the choice of a base was fundamental to get the needed paper for every part of the figure and to develop the details desired, but also that choice came with new problems and difficulties to be confronted (I remember a base, fish base I guess , chosen for a swordfish, which made impossible to get a symmetric double pointed fish tail). Details as the color changes or variation on the folds were discussed in the group and teached us the importance of the second and third lecture of a finished prototype, making the design process a living, evolutioning, dynamic, and group-able activity.

Work from the heart of the figure towards the outside and, if the forced changes made to lose the main goals and objectives, start again and test a different base. This could be done until the point where one works only with Crease Patterns on his head, and knows what geometry could allow the presence of a head, a dorsal flap, an ellipsoid and moving body, or that extra paper for the gills. A level that Nicolas Gajardo, young wonder of Origami Chile, seems to be achieving.



Another fantastic example was given by Polo Madueño (Argentina, in first picture to the left), who, while we were talking, took his objective's sheet of paper and improvised a great fish mask, really simple, really expressive, so suggesting that it made unnecesary any further detail or realism to look at it as a real fish, ready to jump on our face and talk us about its home at the bottom of the sea. If we play attention, it is possible to read every one of his objectives:

• Oval body
• Long flaps
• Pointy tail
• Big eyes
• With volume
• Open mouth

amazingly, his figure achieved almost all of them, and the result was an unique piece of improvisation and elegance. An style that now look to me as one very interesting and deep from an artistic point of view.

I left the workshop with the feeling that design is not an impossible goal, or a permanently postponed one, and that for reaching it is necessary to fold a large number of figures, study the CPs and confront it like an test and essay process, which demands a good dose of patience and will; so sad that I could assist only as a listener, since I've missed the first session. But maybe was a good thing, time will come to think in my own designs.