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Home > Book Reviews > Genuine Origami

Overall Impression

This is Jun Maekawa's first book since the publication of  Viva! Origami in 1983, and contains a few of his older designs, as well as many new creations. Most of the older designs have been re-worked and re-diagrammed for this book. 

Maekawa's style is "Genuine Origami" in that all is achieved by folding alone - shaping is pretty much unnecessary, and the final model is clean-looking, with defined lines and straight edges. Most models could be folded successfully from any available paper. The folding process itself is a lot of fun, involving interesting and innovative moves.

Each model has a "Theme", or concept, which can be the shape of paper, a certain mathematical idea, or a folding move. Each theme is described in fascinating short paragraphs, with the models being used as illustrations of these concepts.

The models progress in difficulty, with each new type of step thoroughly explained as it is introduced in a model. 

The diagram quality is very good, but I found it to be concise in places, involving several steps in one diagram or turning the model over before showing the results of the last step. The accompanying text does compensate for that, though. so I would recommend this book to all levels of folders. It has become one of my favorite origami books.

The Models

Model	Notes	Photo (click for a larger image)
Part 1: Fundamental Models
Mouse	Nice
Squirrel	Simple and cute
Partitioned box	A very clever box, with fun moves, where the final "pop-up" move creates the box. Also published as "X box" in Origami Tanteidan convention 11
Conch	Nice
Santa Claus	Very nice. Also published in Origami Fun World and in ORU magazine #3
Giraffe	Simple - very stylized	Folded by Stéphane Gérard
Elephant	Nice
Elephant	Nice	Folded by Origami Okiba
Transformed Crane	Folded from an off-center bird-base	Folded by Stéphane Gérard
Part 2: Simple Models
Snake	Some interesting box-pleating moves, but I don't really like the final shape.
Airplane	Nice	Folded by Origami Okiba
Samurai helmet	Very nice. Also published in Viva! Origami
Wild boar	Very nice
Dolphin	Very nice
Human figure	Also published in Tanteidan magazine #98	Folded by Origami Okiba
Japanese macaque	Excellent
Tree	Very nice	Folded by Origami Okiba
Part 3: Varieties of Origami
Hina dolls	Each doll is made of 2 squares	Folded by Stéphane Gérard
Fujiyama module	A modular from 12 rectangles	Folded by Ondrej and Radim Cibulka
Reindeer	From a tea-bag wrapper. Also published in Origami Tanteidan convention 3	Folded by Ondrej and Radim Cibulka
Connected cranes	Rokoan-style connected cranes, based on Golden section
Part 4: Intermediate Models
Gift box	A clever box from 1 square
Squid	Very nice. Also published in Folding Australia 2005	Folded by Origami Okiba
Papillon dog	Very nice
Three-headed crane		Folded by Stéphane Gérard
Standing crane	Very nice	Folded by Origami Okiba
Cow	Nice	Folded by Stéphane Gérard
Sheep	Nice. Also published in Origami Tanteidan convention 8
Western Dragon	Excellent. Almost identical to the dragon published in Origami Tanteidan convention 6
Horse	Very nice
Triceratops	Very nice
Rabbit	Three-dimensional. Very nice
Tiger mask	Nice
Devil mask	Excellent mask - with good locking and nice 3D features.
Penguin	Excellent
Frog	Very nice and 3-dimensional
Pyramid	A fractal pyramid - also published in Origami Tanteidan convention 4	Folded by Origami Plaza
Part 5: Complex Models
Chick	Also published in Tanteidan magazine #88	Folded by Origami Okiba
Peacock	Excellent. Also published in Tanteidan magazine #61	Folded by Gabriel Vong
Turkey	Excellent - with a fractal tail
Tyrannosaurus	Very nice	Folded by Ondrej and Radim Cibulka
Eastern dragon	Excellent
Flying Samurai-helmet beetle	Excellent	Folded by Origami Okiba
Devil	Maekawa's modern classic. Excellent.

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