Almighty Bean

Paper is everywhere.  The digital age may be catching up, but paper isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.  Paper has too many functions for it to disappear.  It has accompanied many writers long before Microsoft Word was created.  Through the creativity of man (and woman), paper has undergone so many transformations to provide use and to provide beauty in this world.

Origami is not a popular artform, at least not in the United States or in the Philippines, but it’s a traditional artform that has withstood the test of time.  The popular design of the crane is an old creation meant to symbolize longevity; almost all paper folders know how to make a crane.  But I’m not here to talk about the crane today.  Today is all about boxes.  Search YouTube for an “origami box” video, and you are bound to get lots of results.  It is basic; very easy to learn.  The best thing about the box is its utility.  Isn’t it amazing that a once flat piece of paper can become a three dimensional object that can contain a small trinket or two (or more)?

In the community of paper folders, when you say origami box, you instantly here the name TOMOKO FUSE.  She invented and published so many variations of the box that you never thought existed.  Upon learning a few Tomoko Fuse boxes through videos, I was determined to get my hands on a copy of her book.  With great respect to the author, paper folders in the world wide web would never release an instructional video about all of her boxes, it’s just not right.  So I placed her book, “Fabulous Origami Boxes”, on my wishlist.  Today was my lucky day.  As I was looking at the arts and crafts shelf at Borders Bookstore, there I found the book.  I actually found two of her books there; one was about the boxes, and the other about modular origami.  I wanted to buy both of them, but in the end I bought only one because I didn’t really have a lot of money.  I convinced myself that one day I will complete the Tomoko Fuse collection.

the book that I've been looking for is here!

Of course as soon as I got home, I flipped through the pages, not knowing where I should begin.  I finally settled for the “Lamp Shaped Bowl” with a Lid (with Knob).  I chose it because It was relatively simple, It had a nice three dimensional shape, and because I’ve never seen a box like this being taught in the web (for good reasons).  I am not going to teach you guys how to do it through my blog because I don’t have the permission from Tomoko-sensei.  But of course, if you do meet me in person, I’d be happy to have a folding session with you.  This project required 8 pieces of paper — 4 for the box itself, and 4 for the lid.  The instructions were very easy to understand because she uses the universal symbols being used by most if not all paper folders.

box with lid

I used 6×6 inch size paper and chose to use a paper with a floral pattern and paper with the same color but with no pattern so that the box’s shape is more emphasized.  As you can see, it has a nice knob on top that makes the lid easy to open.  The box is not the usual cube shape; it is meant to imitate Japanese lamp.

lamp box without the lid

Here I rotated the box a bit so that you can see the violet paper on one side and the floral pattern on the other.

bottom view

This is what the bottom of the box looks like.  As you can see, if you’d rather not have a lid with a knob, you can just make a box lid that looks like this.

There are more than 30 projects in this book.  A lot of them have similar patterns with variations that make them look different from each other.  I will make it a point to try all of them so that I can show you the beauty of Tomoko Fuse’s designs.

Most of the time, we sacrifice functionality for beauty — like the 5 inch stiletto heels that make your silhoutte beautiful but are a pain to wear.  Tomoko Fuse boxes are a perfect blend of style and function.  Forget about the usual square box and plain old gift wrapped presents.  Your friend or special someone will appreciate their gift more coming from a box that was personally made by you.