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The Origami Garden, a New Book by Ioana Stoian

Ioana Stoian’s first origami book, Origami for All, was lovely debut for her as an origami author. I’m happy to present here her second book: The Origami Garden.

I asked Ioana about her new book, and the recent developments in her work.

How did The Origami Garden project come about?

Soon after self-publishing my first origami book, “Origami for All: Elegant Designs from Simple Folds,” I was contacted by Quarto Publishing. They had seen my work, liked my aesthetics and offered me the opportunity to make a second book together with them. The garden theme is something they had already thought up and I was very excited to embark upon a new challenge.

What is your main satisfaction in having made The Origami Garden?

Although the theme of the garden was already decided, I was responsible for choosing the projects that would appear in the book. My greatest satisfaction was including models by designers that had never published their creations before and also focusing on women origami designers, who too often get left behind.

What was the biggest challenge for you in making this book?

The biggest challenge for me was working with people who were not too familiar with the art of origami. Every few months I sent over scans of hand drawn diagrams along with step-by-step captions that were transformed into pages of the book by a team of people.

Trying to convey the importance of precise, clear diagrams was a struggle, but we got there in the end. Some origami enthusiasts are known for having bought origami books just for one, two or three models that are wonderful.

In your view as an author, what are those three models for which people should own this book?

There is a good variety of models in this book, so it’s hard to choose, but the three I think people may enjoy most are:

  • This wonderful owl by Wayne Brown
  • This very cute bird by Viviane Berty
  • And this Squirrel that can be transformed into multiple animal-like figures designed by me.

origami-animals

How do you think origami can be useful in education?

I think that origami is a necessity in education. Not only does it develop patience, fine motor skills and precision, it also encourages creativity, visualization and play. Origami is also a great way to teach geometry, which can often come across as an abstract subject. Just by folding a square in half, we can already discuss angles, shapes and simple division, in a very natural way.

In addition to working on The Origami Garden, you also authored “Nous Sommes” an artist book, in 2015. Tell us something about that project.

My husband (Eric Gjerde) and I are both paper artists and although we are both authors of origami books, most of our creative time is spent working on other projects.

Last year I had the good fortune of receiving a Jerome Foundation grant that enabled me to fuse together my interests of origami and handmade papermaking. “Nous Sommes” is entirely made by hand and is heavily inspired by the folding qualities of paper. Whilst the book is very geometric and masculine in one sense, the colours are organic and feminine.

As this work is a representation of our souls, harmony was an important element to include.

Ioana_Stoian-nous_sommes-1-2

What other projects do you have planned for the future?

I have a multiple projects on the go at any one time and many more planned for the future.
I am currently working on another origami book, but I can’t talk much about it at the moment. You’ll have to stay tuned for more information!

Photos courtesy of Ioana Stoian

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1 thought on “The Origami Garden, a New Book by Ioana Stoian”

  1. Excellent article Leyla on this newest book by Ioana Stoian: Origami Garden. So wonderful to see someone’s passion for origami come to life!

    Reply

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