(ARTS) Israel Celebrates Traditional Japanese Origami Art

"Animals, boxes, figures and pictures, all made from folded paper, presented at the conference in Jerusalem.

For three consecutive days Origami fans busied themselves around the clock with folding paper.

Fans got to experience working one-on-one with first class origami artists and learn special techniques.

Origami artist Dave Mitchell from the UK was guest of honor at the conference.

Mitchell specializes in origami thematic models and puzzles.

[Dave Mitchell, Origami Artist]:
'When you know how to do it, it's almost as if the paper folds itself for you. There are lots of children here and children are very good at origami. It's magic so they like the magic of what happens to paper when they fold it.'

Origami enthusiasts, both parents and children, enjoyed the experience of a joint family activity.

[Youval Givony, Five Years Old ]:
'It's fun, because you can learn fast. When you know what you want to turn the paper into, and have tried it many times, you can make smaller and smaller things.'

Origami art is an important part of Japanese tradition, in which the paper symbolizes purity.

In Japan people used to send gifts together with folded paper in various shapes for a blessing and to wish good luck.

Israel’s Ministry of Education approved origami 20 years ago.

Origami is now part of a learning program, 'Origametria'—directed by Miri Golan.

[Miri Golan, Director-General, Israel's Origami Center]:
'We have a lot of cases when children don’t understand geometry and can’t really understand what an angle is. Suddenly it becomes very real to them: when a child sees an angle, he can understand it, but when you draw it for many students on the blackboard, it seems abstract.'

Some origami enthusiasts came to Israel all the way from California to take part in the conference and meet the artists.

[Beverly Baundino, Visitor from California U.S.A.]:
'It’s quite challenging to do all of the origami diagrams and to read the diagrams too—it’s a universal language, we have our own language of the names of the techniques, of the folds and pictures on the paper, so it doesn't matter what language you speak.'

Origami art serves as a bridge to peace, tolerance and love between nations and people.

This approach is used in joint activities for Jewish kids, Arabs and foreign guests.

Origami can strengthen the relationship and connection between different cultures and peoples." (source)