CAIRO - A small, blank piece of paper may have little meaning for you, but to those who make origami it represents an opportunity to make a masterpiece or your wishes and dreams come true or act as spiritual therapy. Origami, or the art of folding paper to create masterful three-dimensional forms, is a Japanese word that consists of two parts; ‘Oru' which means folding and ‘Kami' meaning paper. It is unknown when it exactly first started, but some stories associate it with the old Japanese document ‘The Senbazuru Orikata,' which means how to fold one thousand cranes and was discovered in 1797. "We always had a dream to establish a place where all who make origami can gather," said Mustafa el-Sherbiny, one of the Founders of the Arab Origami Centre. The centre is based in Egypt and was founded in 2011 by 34-year-old Osama Helmy Farag (also known as Ozoz). It aims at supporting and disseminating the art of origami in the Arab World through connecting with origami artists in Egypt, regionally and globally, and trying to merge it with other arts. "Everyone, myself included, me made origami spontaneously when we were children, without knowing that it's an art with rules," el-Sherbiny said. "When I was in my third year in the university studying information systems, I started to remember what I was doing when I was a child - simple folding like boats, rockets and birds. I then searched on the Internet for videos to learn more complicated designs. "I have always had artistic tendencies, but I didn't have a chance to make a study related to arts," the 26-year-old added. Mustafa used to present origami in a weekly programme on television, aired on Sundays. "I didn't imagine that there could be someone who makes origami until some people told me that there's a ‘crazy person' who appears on the television making the same thing," el-Sherbiny explained. "I searched for this man for about two years, until I found a documentary video on him talking about this art, then I called him and met him in Downtown Cairo. We discussed how to improve and spread the idea, and if there's a way to gather the number of people who make origami," he added, "Indeed, Ozoz established the Arab Origami Centre in 2011, when he felt reassured that there were sufficient interested people to sustain it." The now famous centre presents activities and workshops for children to teach them this art. El-Sherbiny said that they held an origami festival in Alexandria in November 2011 where there were workshops for making designs with dinner napkins and banknotes. In Japan, the old maxim says that ‘if you succeed in making 1,000 designs of the crane, your wishes will become true". "I think many people know the famous story of the young girl Sadako, who lived in Hiroshima at the time of the Second World War, and suffered the US's atomic bombing of Japan," the founder told the Egyptian Mail. "Sadako suffered leukaemia after the atomic bombing. While in hospital, she felt sad for the sufferings of the children of Japan and wished she had the ability to help them. This young girl knew about the Japanese saying and decided to make these 1,000 cranes to end the sufferings of these children, and indeed she managed to fold 640 cranes, but, unfortunately, she died on October 25, 1955." "Sadako's family and friends knew about her dream and decided to fold the remaining number needed to reach 1,000, then they buried [the cranes] with Sadako," el-Sherbiny added. A gold statue was built for Sadaku in 1958 with her holding a golden representation of an origami crane. The centre has 15 members, but many other people make origami in Egypt. Youssef Abdullah, a 25-year-old member said that origami is his real work now, and he earns money from it." Origami has been my hobby since 2007, but after I joined the centre it became my job," Youssef said. For me, origami is not an end in itself, but a means to deliver a message, or to be used to reach my goals, which I'm still exploring until now." Youssef said that he used to fold banknotes and gave them to people to watch their reactions. "Some people accept [the banknote] it and say it made them happy, while others were afraid to unfold it. The feeling you get after creating something and reaching the final stage at the folding process is simply wondrous," he revealed.
