Jodi Fukumoto taught herself how to make simple origami from a book when she was a child. Origami artist turns
to Hawaiian themesOver the years, she added to her repertoire occasionally, but she didn't consider herself a serious hobbyist until six years ago, when she came up with an idea for a book of her own.
That's when she started developing her own paper designs based on Hawaiian themes, rather than traditional Japanese themes.
She's come up with 19 shapes, including a double-hulled voyaging canoe, surfers, hula dancers, gecko, mongoose and realistic flowers in actual size, such as anthuriums, orchids and torch gingers.
The designing part is easy, she said. "What's hard is trying to explain how to do it. Origami is about a minimal amount of steps and trying to come up with the simplest way to achieve the finished object.
"And then I had to draw it. I didn't do too well in geometry in high school, and origami is geometric."
Fukumoto is still working on more designs and finding a publisher, but a display of her work can be viewed at the Hawaii State Library, second floor, through Sept. 18.
By Nadine Kam, Star-Bulletin
