Origami
An hour, a square of paper, and one fold at a time.
Free paper-folding lessons every Wednesday in the studio, taught from the first crease. Children and adults sit at the same table. Bring nothing, or bring the prettiest paper you own.
The paper is half the pleasure
Both of these are the same fold — a traditional crane — and they look like different objects because of the sheet each one started as. We keep good paper on the table for everyone. But if you have wrapping paper left over, a page from a magazine, or a sheet you have been saving because it is too nice to use, this is the thing to use it on.
How the hour folds
One model, start to finish, at the pace of whoever needs the most time.
Sit down and pick a sheet
Paper is already on the table — plain, patterned, and a few sheets of proper kami. Take whichever you like the look of. Nothing to sign up for once you are here.
Follow one fold, together
We work through a single model as a group, crease by crease, slow enough for an eight-year-old and interesting enough for an adult. Miss a step and someone will double back with you.
Take it home
Whatever you fold is yours. Most people leave with two or three, and a fair number come back the next week to try the harder version.
Upcoming Wednesdays
Reserve a free seat, or just walk in.
Bring paper, if you have it
You do not have to bring anything. But a folded model is only ever as interesting as the sheet it came from, and the best sheets are usually already in your house.
- Leftover wrapping paper — the patterned kind is perfect
- Decorative or scrapbooking paper, maps, sheet music, magazine pages
What we put out
Square folding paper in a range of colours and patterns, plain stock for practising a tricky step twice, and bone folders for anyone who wants a sharper crease than a thumbnail gives. All of it is free and none of it runs out.
Good to know
- Children are genuinely welcome
- Younger children fold happily with a hand from a grown-up. There is no minimum age, and no separate kids’ table — everyone works on the same model.
- No experience, no equipment
- If you have never folded anything past a paper aeroplane, this is the right room. Paper is provided and there is nothing to buy.
- Reserve or walk in
- Twelve seats at the table. Reserving means one is kept for you; walking in works too whenever there is room.
- One hour, on the hour
- Wednesdays, 5:00 to 6:00 PM, in the studio at 311 Hay Street. The tea and boba menu is open the whole time.
Come fold something on Wednesday
It costs nothing, it suits an eight-year-old and a grandparent equally, and you will leave with something you made. Reserve a seat so we know to expect you — or simply turn up.