A DELICATE ART

Paper is a versatile craft material. It requires hands-on skills to create one, two or three dimensional objects. Presenting four artists who mould paper as per their whims and fancies

- Benoy Sebastian

HIMANSHU AGRAWAL

Himanshu is a professional origami artist who has enjoyed folding many paper sculptures over the past three decades using origami techniques. Himanshu says, “Origami is all about having infinite patience, a mind for mathematical equations and strong visualisation powers.” The artist reveals that he was first bitten by the origami bug in 1989 when gifted with a book on paper planes. Since then it’s been a magical adventure of learning to fold two-dimensional sheets of paper into three-dimensional butterflies, frogs, lizards and other animals. While elaborate, large-scale origami models are Himanshu’s forte; his elegant horses, birds and other creatures too frame a vision of loveliness. His approach is very simple - tools: hands, medium: paper. It wasn’t easy getting here though, he confesses. “The biggest challenge for me was lack of instruction, interaction, books and material. Over the years, I built up my origami library one book at a time, and today I have more than 1,500 books. I have papers collected by me from all over the world, but I actually began with the humble notebook paper, bus tickets and the like.”

NAYAN SHRIMALI AND VAISHALI CHUDASAMA