All of the tables filled up in the first hour as the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden hosted it’s annual origami festival Sunday, July 17, with nearly a thousand people in attendance, the most the event has ever seen.
More than 40 origami experts including Michael Sanders and Yami Yamauchi, who had the largest instructional table at the festival, had guests making everything from paper hats to animals, flowers, miniature clothes, and modular origami balls.
“It helps us attract new audiences to the garden. The origami festival is a great family event,” said garden director Jeanette Schelin, who pointed out that origami could be done by people of all ages.
Everyone enjoyed a day of folding, while kids had the extra tasks of finding all of the origami turtles hidden all over the garden and feeding the koi from the fish food dispenser.
Garden fixtures such as the koi pond, rock garden, and tea house provided the perfect backdrop for the celebration of the Japanese art form, with tables dispersed all over hosting hands-on instruction in small groups.
The different origami models on display ranged from very simple single sheet models, to very complex models with multiple sheets of paper.
“This is about what you can do with a simple piece of paper,” said Schelin.
Some experts at the festival have tailored their style toward using non-conventional papers such as quilling paper, bow paper and even old yellow computer tape.
Some of the more unique origami works at the show included a model of Yoda, snails made of dollar bills, and a chessboard made of sand mounds with individual pieces folded from foreign currency.
Displays made out of work previously done in the CSULB community were a visual representation of the garden’s commitment to being environmentally friendly.
Informational posters scattered throughout the garden had Japanese terms with definitions to further guests understanding of the culture.
Yoko Pusavat, retired professor emeritus in the school of Asian and Asian American Studies and cultural expert, said that the Origami Festival is the perfect representation of the Japanese Culture because it is simple and avoids bulk, similar to other elements of the culture such as food and home décor.
Pusavat volunteers at the event every year, and said her interest in culture and language are inseparable, because one cannot be fully understood without the understanding the other.
Pusavat said that origami helps one think three-dimensionally and is used by some CSULB professors to teach both mathematics and physics.
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