Origami Workshop at the Asylum

The last time we did an Origami workshop was in June of 2014 at the Garage in Bandra. Since then, we kept having numerous requests to repeat some more. Unfortunately, it's been a busy time for all of us, and it wasn't until last month that I asked my dear friend Himanshu if he would like to lead an Origami workshop at the Asylum. Himanshu has honed his folding skills by leaps and bounds since I first met him about 15 years ago, and the results are evident at his photo blog on Flickr. We decided to hold an intermediate level workshop aimed at people who already know the basics of Origami. March is turning out to be an extremely busy month at the Asylum, with big events lined up on all the weekends - from SciCamp on Mar 7th, Bring-a-Hack in association with Hackaday on Mar 21st, and Arduino Day on Mar 28th. Luckily, we could freeze the workshop dates for Mar 14th. We spent some time discussing the structure of the workshop, deciding the models to be shared and so on. Until about a couple of days prior to the workshop, less than a handful of people had signed up. Since we were going to use the proceeds from this workshop to fund the "DIY Book Scanner" build at the Asylum, we needed as least 10 people minimum, so at one point we also discussed the possibility of scrapping the workshop if we don't get enough sign-ups. Eventually, we decided to add a free, 1 hour foundation workshop aimed at those who did not have any prior folding experience. That, and a mention in the Mumbai Mirror, saw registrations swell. Between 35 to 40 people turned up for the foundation Workshop. We discussed the basic principles of Origami, a little bit of historical perspective, and folded a few simple Origami traditional models. There was some talk about Math and Physics too. We had a couple of kids around 10 years old, as well as a few folks in their 70's. The hour flew by quite quick, and we broke for a short break. doing some basic Origami For the intermediate Workshop, 19 people stayed back. We covered some of the more technical aspects of folding. We explored Bases and how they lead on to finished models. Some more models were folded. Himanshu showed some of his beautifully folded models. Himanshu shows us a Gen Hagiwara Origami Violin an Origami Mask - this one uses foil backing to provide support to the paper We were happy we could steer the workshop towards a more mature discussion about Origami art and math rather than dwelling on the crafty aspects of folding. Himanshu explaining the finer points of Origami during the intermediate workshop At that point, the young kids got excited and came along to show off their own models. We wrapped up with a photo session, and some networking. a group photo

The last time we did an Origami workshop was in June of 2014 at the Garage in Bandra. Since then, we kept having numerous requests to repeat some more. Unfortunately, it’s been a busy time for all of us, and it wasn’t until last month that I asked my dear friend Himanshu if he would like to lead an Origami workshop at the Asylum. Himanshu has honed his folding skills by leaps and bounds since I first met him about 15 years ago, and the results are evident at his photo blog on Flickr. We decided to hold an intermediate level workshop aimed at people who already know the basics of Origami.

March is turning out to be an extremely busy month at the Asylum, with big events lined up on all the weekends – from SciCamp on Mar 7th, Bring-a-Hack in association with Hackaday on Mar 21st, and Arduino Day on Mar 28th. Luckily, we could freeze the workshop dates for Mar 14th. We spent some time discussing the structure of the workshop, deciding the models to be shared and so on. Until about a couple of days prior to the workshop, less than a handful of people had signed up. Since we were going to use the proceeds from this workshop to fund the "DIY Book Scanner" build at the Asylum, we needed as least 10 people minimum, so at one point we also discussed the possibility of scrapping the workshop if we don’t get enough sign-ups. Eventually, we decided to add a free, 1 hour foundation workshop aimed at those who did not have any prior folding experience. That, and a mention in the Mumbai Mirror, saw registrations swell. Between 35 to 40 people turned up for the foundation Workshop. We discussed the basic principles of Origami, a little bit of historical perspective, and folded a few simple Origami traditional models. There was some talk about Math and Physics too. We had a couple of kids around 10 years old, as well as a few folks in their 70’s. The hour flew by quite quick, and we broke for a short break.

For the intermediate Workshop, 19 people stayed back. We covered some of the more technical aspects of folding. We explored Bases and how they lead on to finished models. Some more models were folded. Himanshu showed some of his beautifully folded models.

We were happy we could steer the workshop towards a more mature discussion about Origami art and math rather than dwelling on the crafty aspects of folding.