From Kunihito Kasahara, master of origami, I have learned how to simplify, the simplicity of the formally beautiful. This origami’s master is a reference for me and for many who like the art of origami. His high knowledge of folding has led him to make very complex models. In the field of modular origami, he has made exemplary modules and with other teachers to interact, in a healthy competition, improving the possibilities of the models or giving them a new character.
Tulips of Kunihito Kasahara
The synthesis of Kunihito Kasahara
But, in particular in The Santi’s Workshop, what catches my attention is Kunihito Kasahara’s synthesis. Almost mathematical result of a deep reflection on the possibilities of origami, discarding the superfluous no matter how effective it may seem. Contrary to the seemingly complex of modular origami, the essential origami that Kasahara professes and teaches us, is a synthesis. And this synthesis is a simplified scheme that shows us that to represent something you don’t have to copy it literally. Of course, we must find and find the few details that are more exclusive and with which we can give the best representation to each model. And doing it with elegance and naturalness as the master Kasahara comes out, it is impossible because he is the original.
Kunihito Kasahara`s pigeons
This is the same synthesis that Cezanne applied in the painting. There is first a deep observation of the model you want to represent. In the case of Cezanne’s native, and I dare to venture that the same in the case of Kunihito Kasahara. Do not confuse this synthesis with a summary. It is more like a mathematical operation in which we first take out the common factor and then discard it from each model. And leave what is more specific, and therefore more concrete and defining the model. This is what Kunihito Kasahara does with the folds, reduces them to what is essential to find the specific character of the model.
Originality of Kunihito Kasahara
An example, and out of curiosity, is to observe how some models of quadrupeds reduce them to tripeds. And this to get the most out of square paper. The latter to begin with the square paper format is an orthodoxy that Kasahara does not abandon despite its modernity. But if we reflect on the natural perception we have of the quadrupeds, in many cases we are seeing them with three legs, either by the point of view or by the position of the animal. But a camel has a hump and a dromedary two. The latter if it is decisive to represent one case or another.
Kunihito Kasahara camel
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