Laia Carnasa and Storigami: Stories That Come Alive Through Paper

A conversation with Laia Carnasa

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Topics covered in our conversation.

Origins: How Laia’s journey with origami began — was there a specific moment, person, or experience that sparked her interest in paper folding?
Early challenges: An early storigami story or project that didn’t go as planned, and what she learned from it
Favorite stories: Favorite family-friendly storigami tales she’s created or adapted that work especially well
Different types of storigami:
- 1. Transforming a single piece of paper into many objects as a story is told
- 2. Folding an origami piece where each step is described as part of a story
- 3. Making pop-up books as collaborative pieces with a group of students
- 4. Illustrating a story with different origami models
Age adaptation: Which age groups respond best to storigami, and how she adapts her approach across ages
Student impact: A specific student story or observation that highlights how storigami builds imagination, attention span, and patience
Common concerns: The most common questions or concerns teachers and university education students raise about bringing origami into the classroom
Getting started: Advice for teachers or origami enthusiasts who feel intimidated about starting with storigami
Cross-curricular use: How storigami can extend beyond language and creativity into subjects like math, social-emotional learning, or science
Teaching values with origami by making an illustrated book based on a traditional Spanish tale.
Story selection: What makes a traditional tale well-suited for storigami adaptation, plus tips for choosing or modifying stories
Looking ahead: What future directions or new ideas is Laia most excited to explore with storigami

Books on Storigami mentioned in the meeting

Paper Folding for Beginners (formerly titled: Fun with Paper Folding) by Murray, William D. Rigney, Francis J.The Origami Kid, A paperfolding adventure
Story-Gami by Michael LaFosse
Folding Stories and Holiday Folding Stories by Christine Kallevig from 1991 and 1992

Laia Carnasa is an early childhood and primary education teacher with a deep passion for origami as an educational tool. Based in Barcelona, Spain, she specializes in “storigami” (storytelling + origami), a technique that combines storytelling with paper folding to create tales filled with surprise, emotion, and creativity.

Through paper folding, children and adults become the protagonists of their own stories while developing their imagination, attention span, and patience. This methodology has become an essential part of her teaching identity and one of the experiences her students remember most fondly.

Since 2019, Laia has led workshops at international conferences on the pedagogy of paper folding, such as FALTIK (Germany) and events organized by the International Association for the Didactics of Educational Folding (A·PLEC), based in Catalonia, Spain. She also regularly collaborates with the association on event organization.

At these gatherings, she shares collaborative paper puppets, folding-based stories, projects created with her students, and adaptations of traditional tales into the storigami format.

Additionally, she has lectured university education students and participated in round-table discussions on children’s literature and storigami.

You can learn more about Laia’s work on her YouTube channel and on Instagram @laiastorigami

Storigami Videos by Laia Carnasa