A paper crane starts from a simple, six by six-inch square. The first folds show no semblance of the final creation. But these folds add up to create the basic structure of the bird, where fold by fold, wings are formed; soon after, a head pops out. To fold a crane without mistakes requires at least 20 folds, and during the annual month-long event of Cranes for a Cause, Stony Brook University’s Origami Club makes over 1,000 origami cranes — creating at least 20,000 folds every year.
Origami, the art of folding paper into various three-dimensional structures, is first referenced in a short verse written by Ihara Saikaku. Written in 1680, the poem revealed how embedded origami had become in Japanese culture by that time. The word origami is a combination of the words oru, the Japanese verb meaning “to fold,” and kami, the Japanese word for “paper.” Origami became popular in Japan, as paper became inexpensive in the early to late Edo period. The practice quickly spread to other countries when Japan stopped being isolationist. In the late 1900s, origami masters, such as the father of modern origami Akira Yoshizawa and his contemporary rival, Kosho Uchiyama, made origami books that introduced modern audiences to the art of folding.
Cranes for a Cause is an initiative in which students and members of Origami Club craft paper cranes to donate to local organizations or to create an origami installation on campus. The club’s installation process involves threading a string through each individual origami crane to create one larger piece.
The annual program consists of multiple monthly events that take place during the second half of the spring semester. During this time, the Origami Club collaborates with organizations such as Theta Tau, Music and Medicine and Student Engagement and Activities to make different color origami cranes that combine to create a larger flag or structure.
Working with the Campus Beautification Committee, the Origami Club has made three large-scale origami pieces, two of which are currently displayed in the Charles B. Wang Center and the other in the Counseling and Psychological Services hallway of the Student Health and Counseling Center. All within two months, the materials are purchased by the club, individually crafted by club members and then put together by the executive board. The initiative also won the Program of the Year award at the 2022-23 Jerrold L. Stein Student Life Awards for its community impacts and collaborative efforts.
Unlike previous years, this year’s installation is a modular origami piece shaped as a buckyball and is not composed of paper cranes. Instead, it consists of 270 pentagon-hexagon zig-zag units, also known as PHiZZ. These special units are specifically made to join together to make a larger structure. Since each unit has to perfectly align with the next, imprecise units would lead to a butterfly effect and slant the installation. To ensure perfection, the Origami Club e-board decided to take on the responsibility of making all 270 PHiZZ units themselves.
To involve students, the club offers them the chance to decorate each PHiZZ unit and make paper cranes to donate to local organizations. Tentatively, this year’s cranes will either be made into another installation or will be donated to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial or a local organization. The installation has since been placed in the Health Sciences Center Library on the third floor.
Taha Ahmad, the president of Origami Club and a senior majoring in sustainability studies, explained how his favorite origami style, as well as club events, help him relax.
“The Origami Club meetings are a nice time to just unwind after the week,” Ahmad explained. “Origami has always been a relaxing activity, and it’s been my way to relax. The type of origami that is my favorite is modular origami, and that’s where you’re pulling the same unit over and over and then putting it together. In that way, it’s almost meditative at that point.”
In addition to the Cranes for a Cause program, the club provides many other opportunities for students to practice origami. Ranging from learning simple folds to complex structures, the club offers students a place to find their inner zen while balancing difficult classes and workloads.
The club hosts a variety of themed projects students can work on during their weekly general body meetings (GBMs), such as playful finger puppets, meditative suncatchers and star jars. Students who attend can not only learn and craft origami using club-provided materials but bring their creations back to their dorms.
Emily Tsai, a regular club attendee and freshman majoring in biology, described how Origami Club events are integral to their mental health.
“Folding origami allows me to focus on something else,” Tsai said. “It’s been important to have a club space to de-stress because the classes that I am taking are high pressure, quick pace and very competitive. I need to destress every once in a while because sometimes I get so stressed, I can’t even think clearly.”
At each event, there are student teachers and reading materials present that guide origami novices. For intermediate and advanced origami crafters, the club offers origami books, an online Google Drive library and custom orders of specialized origami paper. Those who want to improve their skills and learn how to make new origami models can request access to the library.
Members who are passionate about origami can apply to become teachers through a brief interview process. During events, teachers help other students through the crafting process and answer any questions that arise. Many origami teachers have become e-board members, including Ahmad.
The Origami Club doesn’t solely teach and host origami-themed events. Ever since its creation in 2021, one of the organization’s main goals has been community service and outreach.
Throughout the year, the club has collaborated with different communities across Long Island, N.Y. to fulfill this mission. They partnered with Kidney Crew to make origami tulips for donation and fundraise money for kidney dialysis kits last September. The organization also hosted an event last June at Maker Faire Long Island, teaching children how to make origami.
The club has also taught at William Floyd High School, where students made different origami models to conceptualize detailed engineering ideas. One of the origami models included spirals to visualize the structure of DNA, as well as a transforming ball that could be changed into a tube, ring or sphere. The ball demonstrates the purpose behind stents being used to open collapsed veins.
Ian Codner, the vice president of Origami Club and a junior majoring in business management, shared the enjoyment that they get from organizing Origami Club outreach programs.
“It’s always fun to teach little kids origami,” Codner said. “Origami seamlessly works with outreach, and there’s a [science, technology, engineering and math] aspect to it as well. We’ve taught origami to high school kids in relation to DNA and engineering applications.”
With so many events to plan, the Origami Club e-board meets once a week to keep track of inventory, attendance and collaborations. All events are pre-planned in the summer and executed throughout the year. The weekly GBMs involve roughly an hour of planning, but for longer events, such as the Cranes for a Cause initiative, the e-board takes up to 20 hours of planning.
With the Cranes for a Cause initiative concluding on March 28, the Origami Club continues to pursue its goal of giving back to the Stony Brook community.
Ahmad explained how encouraging new members to make origami contributes to the campus community by having their creations be a part of origami installations.
“When someone comes in on a random event, not knowing how to fold anything and then comes [to] the next event doing more origami, that’s the biggest impact I can have,” Ahmad said. “The work they would be putting in … is something that a lot of people will see since it’s going to be displayed on campus as a permanent piece. That is part of my legacy as a president of the club.”
Planning for the next Cranes for a Cause event will occur again over the summer, where the club will prepare to fold for community outreach and service.
