Makiko Konishi
100 ORIGAMI ETEGAMI
My creative challenge for 100 days was to make one Etegami a day.
Etegami means picture letter, which comes from the Japanese 'e' picture and 'tegami' letter.
It is a Japanese art form where you paint a colourful picture and write a few thoughtful words using watercolour and calligraphy ink onto a postcard and send it off to your friends and families.
So I decide to fold origami instead of drawing a picture and added the words.
Much inspiration came from simple things such as plants and birds in my garden because during the lockdown, we were under restrictions as to where we could go.
Interestingly though, when I was limited with options, I became more curious about small simple things in day-to-day life which I probably would have missed while living a busy life. The sea, where I took up sea swimming, or the shapes of the cloud caught my imagination on my daily walks to the local beaches.
Once I had completed this project, this led me to many other paths that I wouldn't have taken otherwise. Firstly, self-teaching to fold for 100 days brushed up my origami skills and inspired me to become a qualified Origami Instructor in Japan. Then that gave me the opportunity to start running origami workshops both face-to-face and online. And finally, I developed them into the artwork ‘’My Origami Lockdown Diary’’ series which was exhibited in the Artist Open Houses Festival in Brighton and Hove.
You can never underestimate the power and outcome of continuing a simple task for 100 days!
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