Content

- Mini Neo 5th Edition..

- Origamist of the month: Sebastien
Limet, from France.....
- Interview with the Vietnamese
designer Hoang Tien Quyet.
- Crease pattern: Quyets lion..
- Zapping: we pay Halle a visit.
- Did you know?...

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Editor: Juan Arriagada

Collaboration: Gerardo G.
Translation: Chris Taylor
Graphics: Pilar Castillo

The image is property of Microsoft Office. It is published according to the following terms.
Cover photograph: Bat designed, folded and photographed by Sebastien Limet.

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If you would like to support Mini Neo, please send

unedited diagrams to origamijuan@gmail.com

Zapping: Sergio Guarachi

Mini Neo 5th Edition

Juan Arriagada

Now that Mini Neo is consolidating its

position, we would like to have a bigger
team. Do you have anything you could offer?
Do you have something that you could
contribute each month? As always, get in
touch with Gerardo or me and we will give
you the chance to be part of the team. (As

We also hope that you will continue to send

in your unedited diagrams, wherever you are
in the world our bulletin is open to receiving
your diagrams with great pleasure, and it will
help us to continue being a great newsletter.
In addition, we would like to thank Sergio
Guarachi for this months Zapping, who
stepped up through the Spanish forum (AEP
Origami Forum). Become, for a month, the
editor of this section, to get more involved
with the Mini Neo, and start to see that it is
not too difficult creating digital journals or
books.
Well, see you at the next edition of Mini Neo.
There are now 5 editions of Mini Neo
available on the blog:
http://neorigami.com

We would like to thank those who have

helped along the way to get us this far, we
have shown that we can do a good job
without any resources and we have shown
ourselves to be a great team. Now I hope
that you can see us as a helpful resource, if
one day you would like advice you can get in
touch with any of the Mini Neo team.

before, it is important for you to be able to

communicate in Spanish).

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Hello Mini Neorigamists, we have now

reached 5 editions of the newsletter. As we
have seen through the diagrams and
interviews, we have some great origamists,
some we are just getting to know, others we
know well, many with very different styles
and methods of making their models.

Hoang Tien Quyet Beauty in the simple and

the curved from Vietnam
Interview by Gerardo G.
I had the pleasure of meeting Quyet, known as Ori_Q in Neorigami and other sites,
due to our common interest in photo-diagrams. As I met him, I was fortunate to find
a very warm and friendly person. It was a pleasure to spend time with him, as an
origamist and as a person. His photo-diagrams and models reflect this interpreter of
origami as a great artistic expression.
every week.

Vinh Phuc is different from Hanoi. While Vinh

Phuc is still a peaceful province, Hanoi is the
capital of Vietnam, and its a developing city.
Consequently, Hanoi's life is faster and
noisier than that of Vinh Phuc. Whereas Vinh
Phuc has fresh air and has many peaceful
places to go to for the holidays, such as
mountains, lakes and large pagodas. Hanoi is
known more for its rich history. Its over
1,000 years old, having many historical sites.
It's also known for many delicious
Vietnamese foods. One of the most wellknown dishes of Hanoi-cuisine is "Ph", a
kind of soup noodles, with boiled beef or
chicken, only found in Vietnam. The thing
which makes it so unique is that the soup can
have up to 24 kinds of flavors in only one

I'm currently just studying. Ive graduated

from the university, where I studied
economics, and I'm planning to continue
studying for a masters degree. However, in
the future, I would like to be a professional
origami artist. Maybe it will be in the far
future, and I still have many many things to
do if I want to achieve it, but that's what
have I always dreamed of.

Pgina

I was born in 1988 in Vinh Phuc, a small

province in Vietnam. I now live in Hanoi, the
capital of Vietnam, where I have known
many friends who have the same passion as
me. During my school time in Vinh Phuc, very
few of my friends liked origami, but as I tried
to learn about origami, they encouraged me
very much. In Hanoi, there were various
exhibitions and, more important, we
established an origami club to connect
members. It's a pleasure to meet friends

harder and I had to spend a lot of

time learning it. The outside
reverse-fold steps were very difficult
for a kid, so it was an amazing
feeling once I conquered it!

The first time I met origami was when I was

around 5 or 6. Since I was a child, I have
spent a lot of time folding paper. To begin
with, I just folded some simple traditional
models like many children, like paper
airplanes, paper boats and paper cameras.
They made a strong impression on me by the
way a piece of paper was
transformed into different things. I
learnt to fold these traditional
models from my father and my
cousin. The first model I learnt
might have been the boat from my
father. It was easy to fold and easy
to play with, while the paperairplane was a bit more difficult, as
it was hard to lock the model. Later
I found out that it was because my
cousin remembered the sequence
incorrectly. The camera was much

Since I was a child, Ive paid attention to

many other interesting things, such as
drawing and mathematics. I started to pay
attention to origami architecture when I got
older and found out about the internet.
However, we could say that origami has been
my only passion. I was very lucky to learn
about origami and I started to experiment

Although both cities are very different, they

are both special to me. Each moment in my
life in each city has left a different impression
in me, which Ill never forget.

Pgina

bowl. If you have any chance to go to Hanoi,

you should try the "Ph".

Years later, I had more opportunities

to discover exactly what origami
was, thanks to many books, which
my parents bought as presents for
me, as well as a lot of photos and
articles I found on the Internet, and
also things I learnt from my origami
friends from around the world. I
soon recognized that origami was not only a
thing for helping people relax, but also a
genuine form of art! Origami is like sculpture,
or as some folders say, its like music, for
there are also composers who create models
and performers who fold them!

different things with it every year, so it has

never stopped being entertaining for me! In
the first year of the university I started to
study drawing in a center, but only because I
thought it would be helpful for pursuing
origami as an art.

The second design was when I was studying

11th grade, when I was 17. It was a winged
heart. It took me a very long time after the
ostrich, thinking that a genuine origami
design required many techniques, or also a
lot of luck, things that were out of my reach
until I joined the Vietnam Origami Group. I
made many young Vietnamese friends,
which were around my same age, but they
had already designed many great models.
Then I understood that I could also create
something, although it wasnt going to be
easy. At that time, I noticed that a winged
heart was a very popular
subject for many folders.
Fortunately I got an idea and I
quickly completed it. So I had
another design after many
years; I hoped to have many
more in the future and luckily I
was right.
I have about 60 designs. My
first models were mostly

Pgina

I made my first design when I was in 4th or

5th grade; it was an ostrich. At that time, my
friend often brought to class a childrens
magazine which had a diagram per issue,
including an ostrich from two square-sheets
which needed cutting. So my uncut-onesquare-ostrich was beloved by many of my
friends. It was really a lucky shot; the ostrich
was simply from a bird-base, with two legs
from two flaps, one flap for the head and
another one for the tail. I still remember how
to fold it. However, I didn't think that it was a
design, so although I designed my ostrich
when I was 10 years old, the second design
didn't come till I joined Vietnam Origami
Group.

Especially in the 10th grade, when Internet

started to be popular in Vietnam, I got the
chance to learn about the real origami world!
Artworks by Robert Lang, Eric Joisel, Hojyo
Takashi... made a strong impression in me
that time. A year later, I knew about the
Vietnam Origami Group and how it is totally
dedicated to origami.

admit that having a unique style in designing

figures is very difficult. I'm still trying and
trying, and I hope to succeed in the near
future :)
Regarding my 60 designs, I like some of them
like the cats, the buffalo, the rays, the horse,
some letters, the butterflies, the quill-pen...
because I found in them something new that
I hadn't seen before in origami, or I like them
because, even though theyre so simple, they
manage to express their subject.

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Now, I'm paying attention again to the

design of human forms, but with another
style, different from box-pleating. I must

Pgina

human forms, which are designed with the

box-pleating technique, because I used to be
interested in many great box-pleating figures
by Hojyo Takashi and Neal Elias. However, I
soon changed my mind and focused on
animals. I have always liked to design
common animals rather than finding neverbeen-folded ones. What I want to achieve is
a common topic but in a unique way, that is,
I want to show new ideas of old things.
Although many folders have folded cats or
dogs, any folder can do them again, in their
very unique way and style, having their own
cats or dogs, which are different from the
rest. I prefer to avoid complex models that
end up looking alike. For example, in the case
of insects and arthropods, very few authors
can make them with new styles. I prefer
simple models but being innovative or
useful.

The letters I designed were for celebrating

Women's Day 2011. I thought about many
things I could make, such as folding flowers,
but that was impractical. I didnt have the
idea of folding letters till the afternoon of
that day. It emerged suddenly when I was
sick and lying in bed. Letters have been
designed by many folders before, but I had
an idea of how to make them in a new way:
using curve folds and making color-changes
in unusual ways. Fortunately, after 4 hours of

folding, I did it. Although

some letters arent as good
as I wanted, I was still very
satisfied with them. My
favorite letters were the
"M" and the "G". The "W"
was exactly the same as my
old design -A Simple Angelsymbolizing a woman.

I don't use any particular base for designing,

as each of my models often has a new base.
However, I really like traditional bases, such
as the bird base, water-bomb base, and
especially the fish-base, for their simplicity
and since theyre fun to use. In the future I
hope I can make a series of models using
traditional bases.
Since I like wet-folding, I prefer using soft
and improvised folds for my models. I use
soft folds for making smooth models and I
improvise in order to surprise myself.
For me, what model to design depends on
many things. For example, sometimes I
design models for particular occasions (New
Year, Christmas, Women's Day), sometimes I
see beautiful art-works on the web (origami
and other from art forms) and I start to get
my own ideas. Sometimes I complete my
models in a short time, but most times I can

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Besides using the wet-folding technique, I

tend to design models from 22.5 degree
bases. I prefer designing 22.5 degree models

because they seem more suitable for curvefolds than using the box-pleating technique.
Of course, this depends on each folder, as
you can see Eric Joisel used mostly boxpleating for his designs but they all look very
smooth, very impressive with many curves.
However, box-pleating is normally suited for
strong and straight folds, which is different
from my style.

Pgina

When I designed the first

ray, it was the most difficult
one. So I got the idea of making a simpler
one, and then a simpler one, and so on and
so on. The second was simplified to only four
steps, but the third had only two steps to
follow. Then I thought that even a square
sheet without any folds could also be a ray!
And I arranged the five grades of difficulty
like five different rays. Its more like an
impressionist design.

Designing human models has also been in

the same way. Ive always wanted to
continue designing human models. During
2009 - 2010, I created a couple of models
using a radial pleat fold (by angles), like the
seahorse and the swan from 2010, and so,
some very early images of human models
appeared in my mind. I had an angel at that
time, but I wasnt satisfied with some of its
details. This year, besides folding better that
angel, I felt it was possible to go
back to creating humans and I
was successful. However, they are
still very far from having a
particular and distinctive style; I
hope I can achieve it soon!
I usually keep my process of
designing in a natural way, since
most of my designs are my
reflections with the paper rather
than calculations. Although, a
small number of my designs,

After I finish designing, I often draft-fold the

model many times. Each time I will change
some of the details in order to make it
different from the previous drafts, and I only
stop when I feel satisfied with the results.
Conversely, I keep the bases and I fold them
later, maybe after some days or even some
months, when I get a new feeling about the
bases. However, after I get a successful
attempt and Im satisfied with the draft, the
problem is that its not easy for me to get the
same emotions I got from the draft as I try to
express them through the final models. For
this reason, sometimes I prefer the crumpled

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I usually keep my
process of designing in a
natural way, since most
of my designs are my
reflections with the
paper
rather
than
calculations.

mostly the complex ones, are the result of a

previous preparation and calculations. I often
draw these models first. Then I will start
creating the main parts separately, and I
then develop and connect them as a
complete model. For example, my fox was
designed this way. After I drew a draft
picture of the fox, I started creating the head
and the tail. Then I developed the hind-legs. I
tried to find a suitable ratio between the
head, the tail, and the legs. When I tried to
connect these details I found the necessary
paper for the fore-legs. So despite of the
calculations, many details are still created
through improvisation.

Pgina

only make a part of those ideas and I will

store them in my mind. Frequently, when
those ideas emerge, they end up becoming
totally new designs.

drafts over the smooth final

versions.

The first time I saw photo-diagrams from

Nguyen Hung Cuong, I decided to try to make
my own. I used ACDSee and CorelDRAW, two
pieces of software which I was familiar with,
and the results convinced me and
encouraged me to make more. However, the
weakness of photo-diagrams is their file size;
its usually larger than vector diagrams, so
storing photos is harder and requires more
space from the computer.
Currently, in spite of the fact that folders can
learn about designing from many sources
(like books that talk about designing and
techniques in very creative ways), I prefer
designing in my own way, as it helps me get
ideas that seem more natural, and
sometimes it helps me escape from rigid
thoughts.
Besides Neorigami, you can also see my
designs at this web address:

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/ori_q

Pgina

Making photo-diagrams is a
pleasure for me. I prefer making
them rather than drawing vector
diagrams, because it involves
different activities that interest
me not only drawing lines. Im
talking about taking photos,
editing them, and especially,
folding real models. Thats
different from drawing vector
diagrams which just require draft
models. In order to make photo-diagrams
you need to fold real models. Therefore,
during each step you must look for the
sequence of folds that its possible to take,
while its easier to draw vector-diagrams,
since designers can reduce the number of
steps.

Crease pattern: Quyets Lion

This is a new section where we present a CP. There
wont necessarily be one in every edition; it all
depends on people helping us out by sending them
in!
We are grateful to Quyet for sending this to us, and
we invite more top origamists to help us out and
present their work in the Mini Neo.

Pgina

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So, enjoy this gift from a great Vietnamese origamist

that many of us admire!

Zapping: paying Halle a visit

Hello, I am Sergio Guarachi, from Bolivia, and this month it is my turn to edit this section of the
Mini Neo.

Despite not having found an official site where this author displays his models, a special Flickr
group is dedicated to showing folds of various models of his, and here we have a few of them.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1770854@N24/

Pgina

He is a marvellous Spanish designer, if you would like to see more of his models folded and
interpreted by Halles fans, you can visit:

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We present Carlos Gonzales Santamara, better known as Halle.

Did you know...?

The Japanese gained the knowledge of paper making in the 7th century, through Buddhist monks
who arrived from China, via Korea, and the books that they brought with them.
All of this started in the year 538AD, and for their part the Japanese began making paper from the
year 610.
It is thought that it was a monk called Dokyo who brought both the techniques for making paper
and for making dyes, and techniques for painting.
Origami originated in China, but it was taken up much more quickly and strongly in Japan because
of the smaller size of the region.
We can find sophisticated forms of origami in Japan from approximately 1200 years ago. For the
Japanese, the forms had a ceremonial and symbolic function.

Pgina

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Source of information: Wikilibros